Following her divorce, Irish-American artist Eve Oliver finds solace in Ireland where, seven years earlier, she had spent time with her husband while he researched a biography of Evelyn Hope-Rosse, a nineteenth-century writer and artist. But Eve is cold-shouldered by the current Hope-Rosses, who are angered by the biography's speculation that Evelyn was a lesbian. Eve becomes fascinated by Evelyn's letters and diaries as they help her re-establish her identity as an artist and a woman.