The story begins in 1619 England by introducing a 21-year-old woman named Altha Weyward. She has been held in a dungeon for 10 days, awaiting her trial for witchcraft.

The story shifts to 2019. Kate Ayres is a 29-year-old Londoner who lives with an abusive boyfriend named Simon. When he arrives home from work, he strikes her and accuses her of cheating on him. Kate has been planning to leave him for some time. That night, she slips away to her great-aunt’s cottage: “For months, she’s repeated the words in her head like a mantra. Weyward Cottage, Crows Beck. Cumbria” (7).

The story turns to 16-year-old Violet. She lives in Cumbia in 1942. Violet’s father is Lord Rupert, a stern disciplinarian who won’t allow his daughter to travel away from their estate of Orton Hall. Violet has a younger brother named Graham, who is getting a better education than she is and is also allowed to go to the nearby village of Crows Beck.

Violet dreams of traveling the world one day as an entomologist. She loves the study of insects and nature, feeling that she can communicate with the woodland creatures that surround the estate.