In 1860, as an unmarried girl of 17, Lady Slane nurtures a secret, burning ambition - to become an artist. She becomes, instead, the wife of a great statesman, Henry, the first Earl of Slane, and the mother of six children.
Seventy years later, released by widowhood, she abandons the family home in Elm Park Gardens - much to the dismay of her pompous sons and daughters - for a tiny house in Hampstead. Here she recollects the dreams of youth, and revels in her newfound freedom with her odd assortment of companions