'It is November in Paris, during the first weeks when the damp air turns brittle cold, and always about this time a sadness settles on the city.'
It is many years since Father Crispin Love left the Kansas of his childhood, swapping the United States for a priesthood at St Michael's Cathedral in the French capital. It is many years, too, since his close friendship with Julia Kramer, a relationship marked by terrible tragedy that still haunts them both.
When Julia, now an international film star, arrives in Paris, a train of events it is to set in motion that will forever alter their lives. When Crispin sees her, it is as though nothing has changed: their closeness, their understanding is the same as it always has been.
And yet everything is different: Crispin is married, with three demanding daughters to take care of; Julia is in thrall to her businessman partner Jona. What follows is a conflict of emotions that can only have profound consequences for them all . . .