Fee Travers is in her thirties, single and under pressure to find a male, any male, but preferably one who can breathe unaided.

Imogen Banks is also unattached, bright, successful, and delights in being thoroughly bad. She is confident that she can help herself to any man she fancies – especially if he has a wife.

Claire Harper has always regarded a husband, a Volvo, two children and a labrador as her destiny. But at 40 and coping alone, she realises a little self-help is required and arranges a marriage for herself.

Each woman is breaking the rules of the mating game, but it’s Fee who really triggers the trouble. Her aim is to trade in an old-fashioned happy ever after for a new beginning. So why is that so upsetting to those around her? Is a new beginning really too much for single girls to ask for?