Former army captain Mark Mathews and his wife, actress and style journalist Maria, have moved with their two children from fashionable Fulham into a Georgian mill house in sleepy Somerset. Builders are desperately trying to make the house habitable whilst the Mathews rent nearby. Previous owners had stripped the house of all its original features, so Mark and Maria are on a mission to restore some grandeur. They plan to replace floorboards, fireplaces and chandeliers. Whilst work on the house races on, Nick and the team explore the history of the millhouse. They turn their attentions to the ruined mill in the back garden and find some unusual artefacts that cast light on the property's past. Meanwhile, inside the house, Maria has always been intrigued by the strange ornate staircase. Could it be a highly prized Chinese Chippendale? As the team reveal the truth of its origins, the lives of the Georgian owners and their unusual influence on the architecture of the house itself emerge.