Ethel Briggs is a shy, self-conscious girl in her final year of university. Though she should be working on her thesis about Romantic poetry, her well of inspiration has run dry. After a nasty break-up with her former girlfriend, Clementine, Ethel is feeling very blue - and it certainly doesn't help that she's spending the winter holidays in the depressingly drab village of Oxbury, while her family are off holidaying in sunny Australia.
Left to her own devices, Ethel struggles to finish her thesis while the cold, wintry wind blows outside and the days continue to get shorter and darker.
Staying inside proves to be unbearable, however, and Ethel escapes the confines of her family's home for a breath of fresh air. Going for a walk in the woods should be enough to invigorate her, and fill her with newfound passion for Romanticism.
That was Ethel's plan, at least - but she wasn't counting on meeting a mysterious, dark-haired beauty in the woods, who is much more than she seems.