England, 1983. A celebrated love story entertains the nation: Patrick, the sexy young playwright, scourge of an enthralled establishment, marries Sara, who has abandoned her two children to fulfill her destiny as Patrick's beautiful, devoted muse. Thirty-five years later, Sara's death leaves Patrick alone in their crumbling house in Cornwall, with his whisky, his writer's block and his undimmed rage against the world. The children Sara left behind, Louise and Nigel, are now adults-with memories, questions and agendas of their own. What was their mother really like? Why did she leave them? What has she left them? And how can Patrick carry on without the love of his life?

As versions of the past collide with realities in the present, Sara's heirs do battle over ownership of this much beloved woman. But the closer Louise and Nigel get to the true story of Sara's great love affair, the greater its mystery. Secrets and lies, scenes and letters: how do any of us piece together the people who made us what we are?