Art dealer Hero - Leon - has a bad history with heroine's parents; over ten years ago, he persuades Fran's father to quit his dead end job and move away to some remote location to concentrate on painting - his real love - if he's to have any chance of making it as an artist.

After moving to a remote island location Fran's father unfortunately dies a year later, without having realised his potential as a painter. His wife then confronts Leon at his art gallery, causing a massive scene, accusing him of 'killing' her husband by telling him to leave his job, thus destroying his family as he had never written to them after leaving, effectively abandoning them permanently.

Fran understands her father's leaving and knows her mother was a very unsupportive, neurotic wife and he did the right thing listening to Leon and trying to make a go of his painting.

She falls in love love with Leon and also finds out her mother had deliberately kept a whole lot of mail from her father, that he'd sent to her and her mother throughout his year on the island, asking his wife to join him with Fran and live like bohemians while he worked at his painting.