When Beatrix Potter returns to her new hometown of Sawrey after some time away, she finds the village threatened by a mysterious outsider who plans to destroy the pristine shoreline of Lake Windermere by constructing a number of villas.

"In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, a stranger with piercing blue eyes presents a new father with a gift - a precious jewel on a delicate chain, intended for his young daughter. Uncertain of its meaning, Pytor hides the gift away and Vasya grows up a wild, willful girl, to the chagrin of her family. But when mysterious forces threaten the happiness of...