Stella Verney was distressed when she heard that John Marbury was about to sell The Cormorant Hotel, without mentioning it to her until he had to.

Her future had seemed so assured both in the hotel and with John, but now, though John would still be manager, everything was going to be different. She was right: the hated new owner was to alter her life completely, and her ideas about the man she was to marry.

Stella had the perfect job at the Cormorant Hotel. She loved the old hotel, and she loved its dashing owner. So it came as a terrible shock when her beloved John sold out to grim businessman Nicholas Darrington.

Since Darrington generously allowed them to stay and run the hotel as before, Stella thought that her relationship with John would stay the same. But strange and shady goings-on at the hotel soon changed her mind - and she had to take a closer look at the man she loved and the man she hated . . .