As the abandoned son of a lascar sailor, Heathcliff has spent most of his young life maligned as an 'outsider.' Now he's been flung into an alien life in the Yorkshire moors, where he clings to his birth father's language even though it makes the servants claim he speaks gibberish.

Catherine is the younger child of the estate's owner, a daughter with light skin and brown curls and a mother that nobody talks about. Her father is grooming her for a place in proper society, and that's all that matters. Catherine knows she must mold herself into someone pretty and marriageable, even though it might destroy her spirit.

Deep in their souls, Catherine and Heathcliff can feel they are the same. But how can they ever be together, when loving each other - and loving themselves - is as good as death?