Mainstream romance set in New Zealand, where passion first flares in Dunedin's famous albatross colony, and then moves lustfully to the suburban bedrooms of Auckland City. Vanessa's husband, children, and even the cat leave home at the same time. What should she do now? Stuck in a dead-end job, impatient with her long-standing but boring neighbor and would-be suitor, Henry, Vanessa decides on a tour of the South Island. She meets Nigel, cocky, funny, sexy Nigel, and embarks on a holiday romance that spills over into something more permanent when Nigel follows her back to her home in Auckland. But Nigel is married. Or is he? And Henry would go and "declare his intentions" at the wrong moment! It's all too confusing. When tragedy occurs, Vanessa finds herself making a surprise decision. A decision she had once uncomfortably dreamt about.