Shocked and desperate for her reputation Caroline swears the maid to secrecy and climbs out the window to dash into the woods seeking refuge.  Wandering lost and trying to run from the approaching horses and men in search of her, she stumbles on an eerie broken house and hides herself. To her horror inside there is a dead man, obviously murdered. A single rider rides up, and a handsome young gentlemen named Lord Vane Brecon (Benedict Taylor) dismounts and searches the ruins. He finds Caroline and realizes the lawyer he was supposed to meet is the man who was murdered. Horses approach and from the screaming voices it is the local law enforcement.  Someone is trying to frame him for murder. 

Without further ado he and Caroline mount the horse and kick it into a full gallop. After a kindly traveling circus and magician hide them, they have talk around the fire. Lord Brecon puts Caroline in a carriage and with a kiss and parting words sends her off. Instead of going to London she goes back to her father’s estate. Longing to solve the mystery of Lord Brecon, she delicately inquires after him. They continue their friendship and soon fall in love. But something inhibits them, cloaks their love in shadow. Inside the dark and mysterious castle are many secrets. Murder, ghosts and a bad cousin who wants to be heir and will stop at nothing to have the inheritance for himself...

With the quality a little better than a TV movie, this period piece moves along rapidly and is carried well by its admirable and spunky heroine. I enjoyed this film very much, though I did think the end rushed a little fast. There is little to be wary of in regards to content. Two uses of "hell" in moments of distress and many women are seen in cleavage-bearing gowns. A female circus performer is clothed but scantily so and mildly comes on to Lord Brecon, wrapping her arms around his neck before he shrugs her off. Several passionate kisses. Violence is apparent but not overwhelming. A woman is almost strangled, a man is shot in the arm, a boy is seen dead that had been whipped to death (little blood). Several tense and frightening scenes, wandering in corridors, being chased by a villain, and the notion of a madness to kill. The main characters are often in peril. An admirable romance thriller any period film lover would enjoy.