When fifty-year-old Kate Armitage is made redundant after thirty years with a London publishing company, she decides, perhaps rashly, to spend her nest egg on the country cottage of her dreams. Leaving friends and former lovers behind, she embarks on a new life in a small village, planning to write a novel.Despite the (mostly) well-intentioned interventions of her new neighbours, Kate puts pen to paper, and as she retraces the history of her parents' marriage she uncovers some truths about herself, and her lifelong search for love...