Southern-born Michaela is offered an art study abroad in the small country of Estonia, near St. Petersburg in Russia where she meets, falls in love with, and marries Estonian royalty. Her inquiring mind ruffles official and family feathers for her husband Peeter who works for the government. Although he loves her desperately, she inadverently discovers family secrets his shame would prefer she had not known. Before he can act, Michaela disappears and their life together is threatened with extinction. A legend and a ghost in the bell tower haunt the castle they live in–the ghost of the white lady–and it looks like history or legend may want to repeat itself in this fast-moving gothic contemporary romance.