1976 Successful novelist Mike Ward has had enough of England and decides to live abroad for a couple of years - to sever himself from his troubles and to write a new book. Yet when he gets to his chosen paradise in the middle of the Indian Ocean, he finds himself drawn into a web of deceit and into the arms of the beautiful Rose Trelawney. His instincts, built up after years spent in journalism, leave him unable to stop himself digging into the affairs...