White Feather

Lady Catherine, a young aristocrat, flees her high-profile engagement to a violent and controlling Earl. Disguised with dyed hair and a severe haircut, and bearing a fresh scar, she escapes to the Yorkshire moors, taking shelter in a remote, decaying manor house known as Withens Top. There, she is received in silence by its elderly caretaker, Madam Linton, and given a key to a cold, creaking room where whispers haunt the walls. Plagued by nightmares and visions of a mysterious, limping figure on the moors, Cathy begins to unravel. The figure seems to beckon her, leading her into the marshes and deeper into memories of abuse. Symbols of the past—white feathers, used in WWI to shame men as cowards—begin to appear around her, both in dreams and reality. As Cathy ventures further into the manor’s secrets, she discovers the lingering spirit of Lord Heath, a haunted war veteran and former member of the Order of the White Feather. The ghostly presence offers her protection, but its intensity blurs into possessiveness, eerily echoing the Earl she escaped. When the specter’s obsession becomes violent, Madam Linton intervenes, risking her life to drive it away and urging Cathy to run. Cathy collapses on the roadside, frostbitten and soaked, only to be rescued by the same cab driver who had unknowingly dropped her off. But as they drive away, the manor is revealed to be a long-abandoned ruin, consumed by fire years ago. Days later, Cathy appears at a press conference in the hospital—bruised but defiant. Amid a swirl of gossipy reporters, The Earl plays the concerned fiancé until Cathy silently hands him a white feather, a final accusation of cowardice and cruelty. As Cathy prepares to speak, she takes a breath, reclaiming her voice, as Scotland Yard detectives arrive to arrest The Earl.