When Daisy comes to the town of Merham, England, she hopes to reshape her life. Instead, she finds herself embroiled in a controversy with someone else's history.
Lottie Bernham came to Merham as a war refugee and became such fast friends with Celia, the daughter of her host family, that she rarely returned to her home in England. The two remain close until Celia falls in love and brings her fiancé, Guy, to meet her family.
From the moment she sees Guy, Lottie cannot take her eyes off of him. Although she tries to avoid him, they seem to be thrown together. He even enjoys the company of the residents of Arcadia House when the rest of the town is scandalized at the behavior of the artists who purchased it. When one of the artists paints a mural depicting Guy and Lottie in love with one another, they must decide between passion and propriety.
Fast forward 50 years, when the new owner of Arcadia House decides to turn the place into a fancy hotel. Daisy takes on the job of remodeling the building, moving into the hotel during its renovation in order to provide a home for herself and her daughter.
When the carpenters come across the mural hidden behind years of growth and decay, she decides to have it restored to its former glory. Now Daisy must come to terms with her future and Lottie must come to terms with her past.
Jojo Moyes has a way of drawing the reader into the story, of making the reader turn the page to find out what happens next. The characters, with all of their flaws and the hardships they face, ring true for the reader. Although part one focuses on Lottie, part two focuses on Daisy so that we see the changes in the people and the town of Merham from an outsider's perspective. The stories of the two women parallel each other, in more subtle ways than often seen in novels.