When a young governess arrives at a remote and dreary country estate to take care of two charming little children, she is initially thrilled. However, the longer she stays, the more she realizes that things aren't quite right. The children, while beautiful, are strangely distant, and she feels as if she is being constantly watched. When she witnesses the children speaking with the ghostly apparitions of a man and woman the housekeeper has claimed to have died long ago, she realizes that the estate is not only haunted, but that the darkness plaguing them has only one goal: to take the children. Determined to protect them, the governess must figure out just how far she's willing to go, and whether saving the children is worth her life.

While best-known for The Turn of the Screw, Henry James wrote many ghost stories during his illustrious career. "The Romance of Certain Old Clothes" and "The Ghostly Rental" are two of those short stories included in this edition.