Ruth's attempt to be a first class private detective fails miserably but leads to a portrait of her as the centerpiece of an artist's exhibition who finds out the actual portrait was a figment of his imagination and he withdraws the portrait as a result.

Claire is a junior history tutor at the university and her whole life is dedicated to her students and her musty old books. She prides herself on being fair-minded and likes to think she has strong principals, which she adheres to no matter what the situation. On meeting Marcus Hetherington she delights in her principals as he is a man with no morals whatsoever and presumes money and power are there to be used to gain his own ends. She finds herself coerced into spending the long vacation in the company of this immoral man and is determined to show him she cannot be bought at any price. Let...