Neville, at age forty one, faces personal and professional ruin as his obsession with society's darling, Dido, becomes a web of deceit and threatens the picture-perfect world he has created.

Charles Ashworth, the Bishop of Starbridge, is a stalwart defender of the faith. However, his own faith is put to the test when his beloved wife dies. He is caught in a maze of grief and denial, and becomes estranged from his children, his colleagues, and his parishioners.