On a hot midsummer morning, after sixteen years of marriage, Jane saw her husband fifty feet away & did not recognise him. Alan has changed because he's injured his back. Pain has altered his appearance, but he has also changed in other ways: he has become glum & demanding. Jane has to do everything for him
- fetching, carrying, shopping, cooking, even dressing & undressing him. When she longs for escape, her mother accuses her of selfishness
- of course she can't abandon a man so handicapped & needy
- Meanwhile Henry cares in a different way for his self-centred wife, Delia, a writer & researcher specialising in fairytales, who in her own estimation is a ' Great Artist'. He tends the flame, making certain Delia gets everything she desires including spectacular doses of adulation. Can sexy Delia, with her trailing scarves & lacy shirts, coax Alan out of his grumpiness? Can Henry stop Jane feeling guilty? Can the couples swap roles?