Emmanuel is a famous playwright. Lillian is his sickly and embittered wife. They have never fully buried the memory of their dead daughter, Sarah. Rich but discontented, they flit from capital to capital in the company of their hero-worshipping young manager. Then Alberta, straight from an English vicarage and the pages of Jane Austen, is appointed as Emmanuel´s secretary. This prim and utterly delightful figure helps the family in ways they didn´t know they needed. One by one the leopards change their spots . . .