Nobody, not even his former wife Margaret, has ever treated Ian Laidlaw in a natural way. When they see the hideous scars on his face, everyone he meets falls back on distant courtesy to hide pity or disgust or shock. But then Alice Davie, a careless young student, breaks the rules totally by laughing in his face. Alicia goes on to infiltrate the hidden man, exposing the obsessive, destructive passions that lurk beneath his stiff manners ,never realising that she is playing with fire