Approaching the watershed of her fiftieth birthday, Fanny, having long ago divorced Mr. Skeffington and dismissed him from her thoughts, is surprised to find herself thinking of him. While attempting to understand this unwelcome invasion, she meets, through a series of coincidences and deliberate actions, all those other men whose hearts she has broken.

But their lives have irrevocably changed and Fanny is no longer the exquisite beauty with whom they were one so enchanted. If she is to survive, Fanny discovers, she must confront a greatly altered perception of herself.

With the delicate piquancy for which she is renowned, Elizabeth von Arnim reveals the complex emotions of ageing and the re-evaluation of self-worth.