Not many people know the Appalachian community of Whispering Laurel as well as the flatlander, Doctor Ward Marsh, who has been the only physician in this remote mountain village for over thirty years. He has become a friend and mentor to Doctor Felix Webster, who has recently come to the area to research the epidemiology and treatments unique to the Appalachian people.
When Ward Marsh advises him of the names of some of the locals he might encounter, he observes that it is the name "Ember" that his young colleague seems to react to. Felix quietly comments that it is a beautiful name, and Doc Marsh agrees.
"Ember's as lovely as her name, but she's as remote as the mists that cling to the summits of these mountains. Ember Barlow's beauty is undeniable, but her solitude is self-imposed and fitting, somehow. She seems to belong more to the mountains than to the world of people."
Ember Barlow has buried her entire family. She continues to live alone up on Laurel Ridge, digging roots, harvesting herbs, cutting wood, and trapping. She is reputed to be a witch by the ignorant gossips of Whispering Laurel, and rarely comes down the mountain. When she does, it is to barter for supplies. She then leaves as quietly as she has come, speaking only sparingly to those with whom she has business.
Because the beautiful Ember Barlow has no qualms about shooting trespassers, no one dares to intrude on the grief-stricken, angry woman's land, until Felix Webster, who has heard about her most recent loss, comes up the mountain to talk to her. He finds himself with a gun aimed expertly at his head.
Ember is distrustful and suspicious, but at the same time, she is being tormented by nightmares that are threatening her sanity. When Doctor Webster grows tired of having a gun trained on him and turns his back on her to walk away, something inside the woman panics and she asks him to some sit on the cabin porch. She then does something that astonishes Doctor Ward Marsh when he hears of it. She confides in Felix Webster.
When the local librarian wonders if Felix is the reason Ember Barlow seems to be changing, Doctor Ward Marsh, tells her, "Not in the sense that she's trying to become worthy of his attention. But he's challenged her in a way that no one ever has, and Ember Barlow is going to rise to that challenge."
