Glasgow, 1924. Sandy McLean is training to be what his father always wanted to become: a surgeon. But Sandy's real passion is for painting. Then, in the local pub, he spies another reason to become an artist: Sophie, the stunning French girl who models for the local art school... Sandy isn't the only McLean whose life is on the cusp of change: Laura, his doting younger sister, is in the last year of school and readying for life; Harrier, his mother, has growing concerns about her marriage. And in the midst of all this arrives Harriet's sister, Cakey, from Canada, whose wealth and wisdom might just be enough to help them find the happiness they crave. . .