Unmarried fifty-four-year-old Virginia Miner (Vinnie), a professor at Corinth University who specializes in children's literature, is off to London for another research trip.

Meanwhile, her young colleague Fred Turner has left his wife Roo at home for his own sabbatical in London, where he is researching John Gay.

He consoles himself with the affections of a beautiful TV actress, Lady Rosemary Radley, who gives him the entree into London high life.

Rosemary also has a concealed side to her personality that her friends wish to keep hidden from the public, and from journalists including contributors to Private Eye, who lampoon her as "Rosalie Raddled".

Just as she begins to think Chuck's affections have cooled, Vinnie is visited by his daughter who describes his sudden death while climbing the stairs of a small town hall.