In the village of Summerstoke, as autumn beckons it seems the fireworks party is not the only thing set to go with a bang. Juliet Peters, soap star, publicity junkie and all-round flirt, and Isabelle Garnett, ex-artist, neglected housewife and mother of two, seem to have nothing in common. But when both women end up trying to build a new life in the country, they soon discover there are no such things as secrets in village life. Their husbands seem to be on a collision course too. One, the new MP returned to the rural vale he grew up; the other the local paper editor ever on the lookout for scandal, and the story that could help him make it big. Add to the mix a wildchild teenager; a reformed rogue, a social-climbing couple who'll stop at nothing and four old ladies with a manor house and an ear for gossip, and you've got a recipe for trouble. As the days grow colder, passions only grow warmer. Before the year is out Juliet, Isabelle and their new neighbours must discover if their heart really is in the country, and in the right hands.