Esther has little in common with her selfish sister Averil, now widowed with a young son. But when Averil asks her to stay with Rodney while she goes away on a cruise, Esther agrees. Averil’s living arrangements make for some complications to this plan, since she lives in a cottage on the estate of Vance Ashmore, her late husband’s employer, who is said to be planning to marry Averil himself. Yet Vance maintains a more enigmatic profile, and Esther is not sure which rumors about him she can believe.