The novel is set in Southern England and takes its beginning in the late 1930s and follows the life of Rose Peel throughout 48 years of marriage.

At the age of 19 Rose is in love with the passionate but penniless Mylo Cooper but agrees to marry Ned Peel.

Ned has inherited a country house called Slepe from an uncle, and the married couple move in shortly after the wedding.

A noticeable and recurring theme in Wesley's works is the idea of the large house, the idyllic and peaceful sanctuary in the West Country (notably in The Camomile Lawn, A Dubious Legacy, Part of the Furniture and Not That Sort of Girl).

It is a place where Rose is safe from the war and the fear of the blitz in the city; she is away from the terror of superiors (her parents) and conventions.

Like most of Wesley's women she evolves and to his horror Ned must realise that his young wife is not as easy to manipulate as he had first thought.