Despite forty-five difficult years of marriage, Nell and Gordon Lewis seem to be drifting quietly into retirement until Gordon begins an affair with Cath, a woman twenty five years younger. To save her disintegrating marriage, Nell seizes on Cath's dire personal circumstances, and invites her to come and live with them. Nell believes this will give the opportunity to observe what she hopes is a doomed relationship. Accepting Nell's offer, Cath moves in, but instead of remaining the watchful victim, this arrangement quickly exposes Nell's complicity in her long and turbulent marriage, her contempt for her husband, but also her capacity to find love where and when she least expects it.