Fortune has not dealt very kindly with twenty-five-year-old Julia Drake up to now: the sudden death of her mother when she was still a child, her subsequent rejection by her father, separation from her closest companion, Stephanie Harraway and, most recently, a disastrous marriage. Then, through a chance reunion with Stephanie, Julia meets and falls in love with Luke Devereux, a successful artist and antique dealer. But Julia is to discover that Stephanie, whom she has always envied for her apparently unlimited self-confidence, has her own vulnerabilities.