In the Irish town of Schancarrig, the young  people carve their initials-and those of their loves --  into the copper beech tree in front of the  schoolhouse. But not even Father Gunn, the parish priest,  who knows most of what goes on behind Shancarrig's  closed doors, or Dr. Jims, the village doctor, who  knows all the rest, realizes that not everything  in the placid village is what it seems. Unexpected  passions and fear are bringing together the lives  of so many, such as the sensitive new priest and  Miss Ross, the slight, beautiful schoolteacher...  Leonora, the privileged daughter of the town's  richest family and Foxy Dunne, whose father did time  in jail... and Nessa Ryan, whose parents run Ryan's  Hotel, and two very different young men. For now  the secrets in Shancarrig's shadows are starting to  be revealed, from innocent vanities and hidden  loves to crimes of the heart... and even to murder.