Hope Collins-Calder has a stressful job as a realtor in the Hamptons, an ex she can't shake, a current husband she's beginning to regret, and a serious child -care crisis. What she needs is a good, traditional British nanny. What she gets is Annabel Quick. Elegant, sheltered, unmarried, and sad, Annabel is no Mary Poppins. But as she sets about getting Hope's chaotic house in order, she begins to notice her own heart miraculously mending as well, thanks in large part to Sheldon, a gentle handsome local carpenter who is stirring up emotions Annabel was certain she'd buried long ago. And over the course of one remarkable summer by the shore -- when marriages are tested, secrets revealed, and lives renewed --Annabel will find herself becoming more part of the Collins-Calder family than she, or Hope, ever bargained for.