Inheritance

In 1806, Astrid Grandville marries Collin Poole at Poole’s Bay, full of hope for their life in the cliffside stone house. During the celebration, a jealous woman attacks Astrid in the bedchamber, stabs her, steals her wedding ring, and curses future brides. Astrid dies in Collin’s arms after promising never to leave him, establishing the grief and vengeance that will haunt the Poole family for generations.

In the present, Sonya MacTavish’s own wedding plans collapse when she comes home in Boston and catches her fiancé, Brandon Wise, in bed with her cousin Tracie. Sonya ends the engagement immediately, supported by her best friend Cleo Fabares and her mother Winter. At work, Brandon tries to control the story by framing Sonya as unstable, then appears to escalate into sabotage: rumors, damaged files, keyed cars, and flat tires. Rather than continue in a hostile environment, Sonya resigns from By Design and begins freelancing, aided by her former boss Laine Cohen, who gives her the Baby Mine account.

Sonya’s new life changes again when attorney Oliver Doyle reveals that her late father, Andrew “Drew” MacTavish, had a twin brother, Collin Poole. The twins were separated after their mother, Lilian “Clover” Crest, died in childbirth and their father, Charles Poole, later died by suicide. Collin, a reclusive artist whose bride Johanna died on their wedding day, has left Sonya Poole Manor, its contents, trust funds for maintenance, and a small stake in family businesses. The will requires Sonya to live there for three years, though her attorney Marshall Tibbets negotiates a three-month trial.

Sonya travels to Maine and is met by Oliver “Trey” Doyle III, who guides her through Lost Bride Manor. She finds a vast, beautifully maintained house, a library she chooses for her studio, a turret bedroom, a hidden servants’ passage, and Collin’s office, where she discovers a painting of the manor signed by her father. Drew had dreamed and sketched the house, suggesting an inexplicable bond with the twin he never knew. Trey also tells Sonya the manor’s legend: Astrid was the first lost bride, and more brides died there in later generations.

The hauntings begin almost immediately. Fires are lit, beds are turned down, doors open, music plays from devices, and unseen hands tidy rooms. Some presences seem helpful, especially a musical spirit later identified as Clover and a housekeeper-like spirit named Molly. Others are frightening. The Gold Room radiates hostility, storms batter the house though the sky outside is clear, and the grandfather clock tolls at 3 a.m. Sonya has vivid dreams and mirror-like visions of the past. Astrid directly asks her to find seven lost rings and break the curse.

Sonya learns the pattern through visions and research. Catherine Poole is lured barefoot into a blizzard and freezes. Marianne Poole dies after giving birth to twins while Hester Dobbs steals her ring. Agatha Winward Poole dies after Hester poisons or taints a wedding sweet, then loses her ring. Lisbeth Anne Poole Whitmore collapses at her reception after being attacked through black widow bites, and Hester again takes the ring. These episodes confirm that Hester, Astrid’s murderer, continued her vengeance across generations, stealing brides’ rings and binding the manor to repeated death.

As Sonya settles in, her work and relationships grow. She redesigns Anna Doyle’s pottery site, gains new local clients, develops a major Ryder Sports pitch, and begins rebranding Doyle Law. She adopts a rescue dog, Yoda, who senses spirits and plays with a child ghost later identified as Jack Poole. Cleo moves into the manor, sets up an art studio, and becomes Sonya’s partner in confronting the supernatural. Trey becomes both Sonya’s client and romantic partner, believing her accounts after his own encounters, including being trapped and assaulted by forces in the Gold Room.

The household expands into a network of allies. Corrine Doyle helps with photography and shares memories of Johanna’s kindness and posthumous comfort. Owen Poole helps search the attic and basement, trades craftwork with Cleo, and proves that Poole blood may matter when supernatural barriers appear. Winter visits, accepts the truth of the hauntings, and supports Sonya’s determination to claim the house. Friendly spirits guide, protect, and communicate, while Hester lashes out with cold, storms, slamming doors, bleeding walls, sulfurous apparitions, and threats such as “leave or die.”

The danger escalates when Hester targets Cleo in a scalding locked bathroom and seals Sonya in the library, then later shakes the manor during a movie night. Sonya refuses to leave, understanding that Hester’s attacks are meant to drive her from the house before she can find the rings. The mystery turns toward the ornate mirror framed by predatory figures, glimpsed in dreams and connected to the manor’s time-slips.

After Sonya sleepwalks through the house, Cleo follows her and calls Trey, who arrives with Owen. Sonya passes rooms heavy with sorrow: Carlotta mourning her infant, Molly’s fevered death, and the Gold Room pulsing with corruption. In the ballroom, the great mirror appears. Sonya and Owen, both connected to the Poole bloodline, see dancers and hear music beyond the glass; Trey and Cleo can only feel a solid surface. Realizing the portal is part of the inheritance and perhaps the route to the rings, Sonya chooses to enter. With Cleo and Trey forced to wait, Owen takes Sonya’s hand and steps with her through the mirror into the unknown.