The Portrait is set mainly in the late summer/early autumn 1928, and opens in France where Richard Anderson, in his mid-thirties, a wealthy publisher and writer is researching for a book he is writing on his home, Shearwater Manor, a 17th century manor house in Berkshire. The house was very run down when Richard first saw it five years earlier, having been empty for almost one hundred years, since the death of Thomas Courtney, he young squire. His ill-fated life and untimely death had deterred all prospective purchasers until, that is, the arrival of the level-headed and skeptical Richard Anderson. He ordered extensive renovations to return the manor to its former glory, and has been living there for three years, alone, except for the servants, all of whom live out, apart from Maurice, the butler, who has a room at the manor. Whilst in France, Richard meets Yvette Moreau, a young French woman in her early twenties, and after a whirlwind romance the pair fall in love. Yvette has no family, so they return to Shearwater Manor, with plans to marry some weeks later, to enable Richard's closest friends, the Appleby's, to attend the wedding. On their arrival at the manor, Yvette sees a portrait hanging in the sitting room and asks Richard about it. He tells her it is the portrait of Thomas Courtney, who became squire of the estate in the 1820s after the death of his father. He relates the tale of Thomas's short and tragic life, and his eventual suicide, following the death of his wife, Catherine, in a riding accident. However, Richard could never have imagined the effect this subsequently has on Yvette. From that point she becomes obsessed with the story, having vivid dreams and imaginings, with the result that tragedy lies in wait.