Julia's marriage is failing. Her stepdaughter's return poses a fresh threat. How can she drive the girl away? Does she really want to?
It is 1976. A young girl, Carole, embarks on a journey of self-discovery and fulfilment. The plot shifts between middle England and northern France, Paris, London and Scotland, as she searches for the love she was denied in her bleak adolescence. She begins with her father, but her stepmother sees her as a threat to her failing marriage and the two women fight ferociously over a man who is essentially worthless.
In a world of deception and infidelity, the friendship of another woman appears to answer her needs, but a cruel combination of fate and misunderstanding snatches her happiness away. Will she find what she is seeking with a bewitching 'dark stranger' or with a married lover, the one too dangerous, the other unwilling to court danger for her sake? Does she know what she is really looking for? In a harrowing climax, she discovers that love is found in unexpected places and that she has held it in her hands from the beginning.
The title reflects the web of misunderstandings that constitutes most of our lives and the unforeseen consequences of our frequently flawed grasp of reality.