Amanda Derington is staying in Egypt with her aunt and uncle; against her guardian's wishes she travels to Cyprus by ferry to see the island.

Her aunt arranges for her to stay with an elderly female member of the British expatriate community who turns out to be eccentric, charming and insightful.

On the ferry Amanda meets Steve for the first time and a murder occurs in which they are both involved.

Once on Cyprus Steve and Amanda see a lot of each other despite her thinking him attractive but rude (and knowing he would be completely unacceptable to her guardian) and he saying that her presence was distracting him.

Through a series of near death experiences and a couple of misunderstandings, the novel reaches a satisfactory end with the unmasking of the murderer and the union of Steve and Amanda.