Never before obsessed with anyone besides himself, real estate tycoon Freddie Grimes returns to his hometown in County Mayo, and becomes obsessed with Monica Duggan. She is a beautiful young woman, whom he desires even more than he wants the new mansion he is building to impress the locals in the small Irish village. Monica, devoted to her career as a writer, is instinctively repelled by the middle-aged divorce, but finds herself intrigued by his relentless pursuit. Local detective Gus Lenihan, more attractive to Monica, is falling hard for her, but religion and his own moral rectitude stand in the way. Tension and suspicion mount between the competing males, leading Monica to make some very curious choices - the results of which she could never have foreseen."