In a seaside enclave on the Mediterranean coast, three women come to terms with who they are: Iris, with her "winsome wonsome" ways, no longer young; Charlotte, a troubled debutante who has fled from society; and Anna, who feels that her emotional life has collapsed until she meets a young Spanish girl named Catalina. Unfolding in an exotic setting altogether different from her Irish tales, Edna O'Brien's 1988 novel is an account of lost love and the hope of healing, and the societal restraints that can make these things impossible.