In Victorian England, young Maria Merryweather has just lost her father and finds herself an orphan. Her only inheritance is a mysterious book of magic and she and her governess are now obliged to go and live with an uncle she doesn't know. He lives in the strange Moonacre Manor, in a remote land. The young girl is not welcome there, for with her come ancient wounds that have never healed. Her presence makes the ancestral hatred opposing the Merryweathers and the De Noirs spring to life again.

Maria doesn't know it yet, but a terrible curse has been cast upon the family. From secrets to mysteries, the intrepid young girl plunges into an adventure that will cast her into the heart of a secular prophecy. Moonacre and its magic creatures are in danger. Their fate and that of the two families are in the hands of a princess who must accomplish the most fascinating of destinies.