When Eve North returns to Athmore after three years' separation from her husband, Justin, she finds the great estate, and Justin himself, vastly changed. Eve, too, has changed. She knows now the mistakes she made in the past in her marriage, and she now dares to win back the love of her own husband. Like another Eve, she wanders into the gardens of Athmore unsuspecting. 

Yet she has reason to fear. Justin's brother Marc had once before put her in a compromising position in that place of secrets, the green velvet room. Justin had believed Marc and had never forgiven her. Now Marc waits for her at Athmore. Then she is warned that Justin has made up his mind at last to divorce her in order to marry Alicia Daven, the cool, serene Alicia whose quiet assurance comes from generations at Grovesend, and who has always taunted the American Eve with her tempting of Justin.