Edith Hope is an astute, watchful Englishwoman approaching middle age, a writer of romance novels who secretly believes in the happy endings they offer. After Edith embarrasses her London friends by transgressing their strict but unwritten sexual and emotional codes, they ship her off to a quiet Swiss hotel in the hope that she will become once again her familiar, respectable self. During her dreamlike sojourn at the Hotel du Lac, Edith encounters a strange cast of characters, including Monica, a cast-off wife; Mrs. Pusey, an avid, narcissistic woman with her inscrutable daughter, Jennifer; and a fascinating but rather diabolical gentleman, Mr. Neville. In this period of hiatus from her everyday world, Edith begins for the first time to reflect on her own life with real insight and honesty, and when she is offered the chance to make a radical change in her situation, she responds decisively and with a new knowledge of herself.