Small animal vet Sophie Jones has seen her daughter off to university in the USA. As a single parent with an empty nest, she surprises herself - taking a job in a tiny village of Applemore in the Highlands of Scotland. Hundreds of miles from home, she can try to escape the fear that her past might come back to haunt her. Divorced artist Ben Lewis accepts his grown up daughter's teasing that he's turned into a grumpy hermit. He's perfectly happy with his life in an old farmhouse overlooking the wild Highland beach. The last thing he needs is someone coming to live full time in the cottage by the shore - and their first meeting is a disaster. But circumstances keep throwing them together, and the attraction between them is undeniable.