At just another drinks party he very nearly chose not to go to, Jeremy catches sight of Maria and is instantly attracted to her. Completely under her spell, he embarks on an affair and becomes answerable to her every whim. Meanwhile his wife Anne orders him out of the house for entirely different reasons - she's concluded he's having an affair with the nanny of their two children. As an unstoppable chain of events follows, the lives of Jeremy, Anne and an ever expanding circle of characters are changed forever in a novel rich with humour, absurdity, sex, pain and puzzlement.