On rainy day in March 1959, David Sheldon arrives in the small east coast resort of Fairhaven to reluctantly claim his inheritance of a half share in a run-down harbourside café, left to him in the will of a great uncle he hardly knew.

Being an accomplished guitarist, he has little interest in anything beyond music and, to his parents’ consternation, has drifted through the three years or so since his national service without much thought for his future or any ambition to make anything of his life. David’s only concern is for his elder brother, Richard, a successful businessman, to whom he is close and who is in a sanatorium, recovering from Tuberculosis.

Having no intention of taking on the grind and tedium of running a café, all that is on David’s mind are: Why was it left to him and not Richard? ... Who is the mysterious JM Lampeter, who has been left the other half of the café? ... And how much will this unwanted partner be willing to pay to buy him out?

However, like so much in David’s young life, things do not turn out as he hopes or expects. His unwanted business partner proves to be the biggest surprise of all, and through the glorious summer of 1959, David experiences challenges and changes to his lifestyle that he could never have imagined.

Through the vibrant music of the rock and roll era and new friendships, he learns to embrace his new environment and adopt very a different attitude to life.