At a brief encounter in England, Jack Weston, a freelance journalist meets Nicole, a mysterious woman, who has a second home in an isolated corner of Corsica. Intrigued, Jack eventually persuades her to let him stay, as a paying guest, one summer. He completes some literary critiques, whilst she pursues her vocation, researching alternative medicines, using the plants of the famous maquis, which have curative reputations, ancient and modern.
A frankly passionate affair develops and the situation seems idyllic. But dark clouds gather as inexplicable murders soon blight the tiny community. Jack is the prime suspect, since he is the only person present at the time of each murderous event. He protests his innocence, but the maritime police suggest he is in some way behind the deaths, controlling events. All is not as it seems.
Antoine and Angelique, who run the beachside taverna, and Guiseppe, the old fisherman, remind Jack of Corsica's violent past, and that this...