Ever since the death of her husband Theo, Jane Fielding has tried to keep Rawlston House for herself and her children, despite the money problems she inherited. Selling off bits of the property has helped: there are new people next door, and in the lodge on the lane. But just when it seems her head is finally above water, Jane is beset with new anxieties. Sam Clarke has groomed her home with the same style and polish she applies to herself. She adores her husband, Ben, and the life he gives her, but struggles with being a stepmother to his daughter. Marooned in the countryside, far from her family and friends, she soon becomes aware that Ben's life is more of a mystery to her than she realised... It was never Bella Balfour's dream to live in the country and when her husband Iain insists they move to a tiny hamlet, miles from anywhere, it's a shock after her busy London life. The lives of the other women in Rawlston throw her own existence into a harsh spotlight. The cracks in her marriage are turning into unbridgeable chasms, and Bella is hungry to find a passion for life she feels she has lost. Each woman is drawn inexorably into the lives of the others, whether she likes it or not...