When a struggling publisher discovers his only successful author is blocked he knows he has to unblock her or he’s finished. With her newfound success, she’s become too damn happy and she can’t write when she’s happy.The only trouble is, the worse he makes her feel, the more he realises he’s in love with her.

Three 40-something women in a small English town meet weekly for a ritual of gin, cigarettes, and sweets — and swapped stories arguing which of them has the most pathetic love life. Kate is headmistress at the local school; her best friends are the town’s police chief and a cynical, thrice-divorced doctor.