Polly Burton believes she has her life well-organised. Her career as a photographer is blossoming and she is to marry Charles Gregson, a quiet dependable man she has known since childhood. But an unforeseen encounter with the sophisticated Leon Hammond -- when she literally collapses into his arms on a South African beach -- throws all her tidy plans into turmoil.

A deep-seated trauma from the past has surfaced to haunt her, and the last thing she wants is to see Leon again and be reminded of events she has tried so desperately to forget. But meet him she does -- back home in England, and Leon, intrigued by her reaction to him, is determined not to let her go a second time...