Merham is a well-ordered 1950s seaside town, the kind of town in which everyone knows their place Lottie Swift, an evacuee who has grown up with the respectable Holden family, loves Merham, while the Holdens' daughter Celia chafes against the constraints of the town When a group of bohemians takes over Arcadia, a stark Art Deco house on the seafront, the girls are drawn to its temptations as Merham's citizens are appalled by them They set in place a chain of events which will have longstanding and tragic consequences for all concerned Now, almost fifty years on, Arcadia is returning to life, and its inhabitants stirring up strong feelings again And prompting more than one person to look into their own history and ask can you ever leave your past behind?