Rose Budleigh has come home to Edinburgh with a Ph.D. in Lexicography, an unusual brilliance for chess and not a penny to her name. Her sisters Catherine (the clever one) and Helen (the pretty one) despair of her: when, they ask, is she going to wake up from her dream world? All too soon Rose is scraping a living doing tele-sales and market research.
Then she stops a familiar face to ask him which brand of toothpaste he uses: Jamie Cameron, chess rival from her teenage years. He's good- looking, fabulously wealthy and can't bear the thought of losing Rose again. He makes her an offer: he'll keep her in a life of luxury in return for her love. Rose is smitten and so begins a very indulgent romance. But Catherine and Helen aren't so sure: they think their sister is about to find out there's a price to pay for a life of idle pleasure...