When Oscar walks out on her, Bea is shocked but surprisingly unworried. At last she can concentrate on her first love, painting, and she moves to her aunt's isolated cottage on the Kent coast. But friends and family won't leave her alone, and her social life takes a decided upward turn, including meeting the romantic Irish geologist Francis (Nut) Nutmeg. When Oscar discovers his new love is an alcoholic, and thinks he might return to the marital home, he discovers it's too late: Bea has fulfilled her long-held ambition and is about to have her first private view - and she's also pregnant with Nut's baby.