In her secret heart, sheltered Lydia Beker yearned for more - a sea of sensation, a husband to be tender with. Surely such longings couldn't be wrong? And then came Jakob Neubauer, an outsider who promised her a world of passion... One simple dream sustained Jakob: to work his land and build a life with the perfect woman at his side. Lydia Beker, unaffected and so serenely beautiful, seemed the embodiment of his every desire. But would he prove himself a man worthy of such a precious gift?