What's a loyal forty-year-old California housewife supposed to do when her hot-shot lawyer husband tells her he wants a divorce? If she's Caroline James, she holds her panic at bay with a makeover and a massage. Actually, her newfound freedom is something to be relished, though Caroline's going to have to work hard to keep her head above water in a West Coast world of hot tubs, margaritas, and hungry land sharks, as she nervously prepares to fend off a slew of unscrupulous settlement tactics. Though it's a little scary being alone, a new romance could be appearing over the horizon, and she feels truly alive for the first time in a long time. Until the suspicious death of the woman who first warned her to watch her back -- the unpleasant ex-wife of her spouse's law partner -- has Caroline wondering if she's got more to worry about than a custody battle ...