Penelope is torn between two men, one of whom is willing to help her out in her career and one of whom is in danger of capturing her heart, and her choice leads her on a journey of romance and self-discovery until she finally falls in love. Penelope is 20, only a few years out of boarding school and bored after taking a secretarial course and not finding the office environment to her taste. She is decidedly "alternative" in her sensibilities and finds an outlet for her creativity, originality and desire for adventure and freedom when her social life in London brings her to the attention of noted theater designer Nigel Burnett. Nigel is urbane, suave and sophisticated, and there is an immediate attraction between the mature designer in his early thirties and the feisty, naive village beauty, Penelope. He offers to teach her the ways of the theater industry in the West End and further her acting ambitions, if she agrees to be his girlfriend - a nice term for the kind of casual arrangement he wants. Penelope has real affection for Nigel and attraction towards him, but cannot imagine giving up her virtue in such an arrangement, so she returns home to the Cotswolds, to the beautiful village that she grew up in and where her mother still lives.
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There is a tenant renting the next door cottage. But Alistair Heath is not a sociable man. He is in his early thirties, dark, lean, cold, and proud, and hard to read. There is immediate antagonism and attraction between Penelope and Alistair when she encounters him raking up his yard. They begin flirting, and Penelope is touched she sees him treating village boys with rough kindness, or looking out for her whenever a part of her cottage needed repair. But he also mocks her and makes it clear he doesn't care what she thinks or says, or so it appears. Penelope convinces Alistair to participate more in village life, and as they prepare for an upcoming village fete, they work together and bond despite their rough edges. But every time it seems Alistair seems to be showing his true self through the mask, he holds back. Penelope feels she only ever sees the real him when he is in a lustful state, hungering for her.
Then Nigel comes to the village looking for Penelope, and finds her returning from Alistair's house. Penelope is surprised to see horror in Nigel's face when he sees Alistair and dark rage in Alistair's face. Alistair beats him bloody and Penelope berates him for it while cradling Nigel's head. Alistair sneers and leaves, and Penelope, full of remorse for Nigel, agrees to come to London with him.
She is not in London for a few weeks before things start to turn fishy. She doesn't allow Nigel to get her into bed, but eventually starts noticing hints of his hidden, other lovers. Mysterious phone calls from women, a different perfume on his clothes, and other signs make Penelope suspicious, until she follows him one afternoon and catches him in bed with an actress. Penelope ends the relationship with Nigel in a rage and goes to brood over it, when a previously hostile actress named Eugenie comes to reluctantly comfort her. When Penelope says she now has an inkling why Alistair had been so angry, Eugenie reveals that Alistair had once been engaged to marry an actress, but Nigel seduced her and it broke Alistair's heart. When Penelope runs back to the Cotswolds to find him, she is told that Alistair returned "home", which turns out to be an enormous aristocratic estate that has been in Alistair's family since Tudor times. Penelope is shocked, but the Alistair who greets her is gracious, kinder and less angry than he had been before. She stays under his roof for two days, in a separate bedroom, and one evening she confesses that she knows everything and apologizes for blaming him for his fight with Nigel. Alistair confesses that he fell for Penelope at first sight, but with the scars of his first love being stolen by Nigel and Penelope's theater background, he wanted to steer clear. The reason he rented a cottage in the Cotswolds was because he wanted to get away from the memories of his fiancee, but after the fight with Nigel over Penelope, Alistair came back home because he realized he was over his fiancee - it was Penelope he cared for now. They declare their love for each other and get married, and Alistair promises to help her acting career.
Best part of story, including ending:
I liked the Cotswolds setting for half of the book, it was very well-written and nice to imagine.
Best scene in story:
when the vicar tells his wife that he thinks Penelope is exactly the kind of girl that Alistair needs. it was a nice couple's moment.
Opinion about the main character:
I like Alistair's manly protectiveness and Penelope's naïve goodness.
