The year starts badly for Mark Hutton who finds that his wife has left him for no reason on New Year's Eve. His mood isn't improved when an old friend arrives from Australia and insists on organising a reunion dinner for the boys who were in their class at school.That evening ends in tragedy, but throws up a ray of hope for Mark who discovers that one of the guests has married the girl he fell in love with all those years ago. And when he produces a family photograph the son bears a startling resemblance to Mark.Closeted in his own small and unprofitable bookshop, he wrestles with his problems - romantic, professional and social. And what he discovers is that a lot can happen in a year...