Holly Wilson has landed a dream job which involves her staying at five-star resorts around the world. There is however a proviso. She must travel incognito and that means telling lies. Holly hates lies. Her cover story, designed to minimize conversation on the subject, is that she is to her honeymoon destination for closure after her husband's sudden death. Holly has never been married but she does have a nineteen-year-old son, Harry, who she has raised single-handedly by working as a freelance copy editor after her boyfriend at university, Gareth, left to study in America, without knowing she was pregnant, and never returned.

Philippe also has a secret. He is a novelist but writes under the pen name of Veronica Philips. His debut novel was a bestseller but he is not finding it so easy to write his second book. After scathing comments from his editor, following the submission of his first fifty pages, Philippe travelled to Mauritius for inspiration. Nine months later he knows the book is still sub-standard and his twelve month deadline is rapidly approaching. The only people on the island who know Philippe writes under a pseudonym are British couple Robert and Rosemary Forrester. Both in their late fifties, they are as much in love as when they first met eighteen years previously but now they share a terrible secret of their own.

Holly meets the couple on her second evening in Mauritius. Rosemary is a similar age to Holly's mother but there the similarity ends. Holly has been estranged from her mother since falling pregnant with Harry and carries a terrible burden of guilt for the death of her father, which her mother blames her for. Rosemary's warmth highlights what Holly missed growing up and she hates the lies she is forced to tell her. Robert and Rosemary introduce Holly to their friend Philippe who is instantly smitten with her.