Dan Hollis lives a simple, solitary, but contented life, taking pleasure in the beautiful landscape around him and in his work. For the past twenty-three years he has been making gorgeous Celtic harps, each unique and built entirely by hand. In his barn tucked into the woods of Exmoor, he can be himself, untroubled by social situations that he doesn't always get right or understand. Ellie Jacobs is a lonely housewife who seeks solace in her daily walks and in the poetry she keeps secret from her controlling husband Clive. One day Ellie stumbles across Dan's barn by chance and is stunned by the enchanting workshop. Dan, taken by her enthusiasm for his harps--and her cherry-coloured socks--spontaneously gives her a beautiful cherrywood harp, and Ellie finds she has a deep desire to learn to play it. Clive refuses to let her keep the harp, but Ellie finds she cannot forget either it or its maker, and so she begins to take lessons in secret at the barn, where Dan keeps the harp for her. Gradually drawn into Dan's infectious delight in the countryside they both love, his peculiar charm, and methodical eccentricity, Ellie starts to dream of escaping her loveless marriage and refinding joy. But when she discovers an important secret relating to Dan, she must make one of the biggest decisions of her life: keep it from him and risk their friendship, or unpend his carefully constructed world and change the course of both of their lives forever?