Michael Rogers is a restless young drifter who drifts between odd jobs and dreams far larger than his means. When he stumbles upon a wild, scenic plot of English land known as Gipsy's Acre, he is gripped by a vision: a perfect modern house designed by his friend, the dying architect Rudolf Santonix. There he meets a quiet young woman who turns out to be Ellie, a sheltered American heiress to an enormous fortune. The two fall quickly into a marriage that crosses every line of class and money, and they set about turning the cursed acreage into their private paradise, with Ellie's devoted companion Greta close at hand. Local superstition shadows the project from the start. An old Romani woman delivers ominous warnings, and the villagers speak of misfortune that has long clung to the place. As the dream house rises, so does a slow, creeping unease, and the narrative deepens into a study of desire, ambition, and the dark places where longing can lead. Told in the first person, this is one of Christie's most psychologically intimate works, a marked departure from her detective puzzles. The pull of the writing lies less in clues and alibis than in the unsettling intimacy of its narrator's voice and the steady gathering of dread around a couple who seem, on the surface, to have everything.