Celia Barrett never thought that she would want to get married in preferring the carefree life that her wealth, albeit not infinite, could afford her. And although, following her older brother Rick Barrett's death, he who always managed her finances, is courted by staid Bob Dwight, Rick's lawyer handling the estate, which does make her contemplate settling down, Celia instead falls for Mark Lamphere, an architect and publisher of an architecture magazine, which has been bleeding money, he who she meets while on vacation in Mexico. Solely on their first glances at each other, Celia felt that Mark was the first person who truly understood her holistically and fundamentally. As such, they do quickly get married. With nothing keeping her in New York City, Celia agrees to live with him at his family's estate, Blais Creek, in Levender Falls, a hour's drive from New York City, but even before arriving there, she sees in him a changed man, a person she didn't and doesn't really seem to know. In addition, she learns of fundamental things in his life which he failed to mention. First are the three other people and their relationship to him who also reside at Blais Creek, least of who being his older spinster sister, Caroline Lamphere, long in control of his life since the passing of their mother. And second is his collection of "rooms", his hobby of recreating rooms in the house with artifacts true to the original, he believing they which dictate the nature of the house. Although Celia was aware of the rooms themselves, she was not aware of the theme that pervades them. But it may be the locked room in the house that contains the biggest secrets of Mark's life, those secrets which may be an omen to what is potentially her tragic destiny in being Mark's wife.—Huggo