Posy Montague is approaching her seventieth birthday. Still living i her beautiful family home, Admiral House, set in the glorious Suffolk countryside where she spent her childhood catching butterflies with her beloved father, Posy knows she must make the agonizing decision to sell it.

Then a face appears from the past - Freddie, her first love, who abandoned her and left her heartbroken fifty years ago. Already struggling to cope with problems amongst her grown-up children, Posy is reluctant to trust in Freddie's renewed affection. And unbeknown to Posy, Freddie - and Admiral House - have a devastating secret to reveal.