The ""curse of unhappiness"" of Seabrea, a once isolated, now forgotten ""big house?"", does indeed lead to a welter of woe- particularly for Sare King who grew up there, and was both stigmatized and victimized in this small Maine community as the one"". And now, after her mother's death- the hit and run victim of Stephen born whom only Sare can identify as her killer- she is all alone there. Turning away from the one person who loves her, a fisherman, Sare uses her knowledge of Stephen's guilt to force him into the marriage which will give her the Dorn name and money; still she does not achieve acceptance and her widening sphere of influence and attraction (she is beautiful) leads to several casualties and finally her own self-destruction... Mrs. Ward tells a better story than most of its genre-elodrama- and gender- feminine, but it's on the high strung side. It will do, and do best, as a summertime timepasser.