At 21, Jordache Alexander meets Mell Quinn. Now at 29, Jordache is beautiful and successful but bitter and mourning the death of her lover Mell. She agrees to go to Devon for a poetry and painting course. On the course is Frances Ledger 47, a talented artist and devout Roman Catholic who has had her dreams shattered. From an abrasive first meeting, a tentative friendship develops between the two women, but Frances has problems she cannot share.