A cruise on the Mediterranean...Cannes, Florence, Venice...and in this romantic setting Drew gets to know Annette--an attractive, intelligent, likable young woman, who has a history of getting herself into a series of unhappy relationships. They explore, they dance, they become intimate, and like the Scheherazade of "1001 Nights" Annette keeps telling him her stories. Drew is desperate to understand her. He is sure they belong together, but he does not succeed in winning her love during the twelve days of the cruise. Is she even capable of loving someone who loves her, wants her, is kind to her? The twelve days of the cruise are not enough for Drew to win Annette's love, and she gives him no hope for the future. Part Two tells their separate stories: Annette continues her study of Flamenco dancing in Spain, then has a passionate affair in New York. Drew goes back to California and later studies Spanish in Guatemala, where he meets a woman he likes...but he cannot forget Annette. Both have life-changing experiences in the year after the cruise, but do these experiences confirm their separate paths or bring them together after all?