Rose By Any Other Name is largely a road story. In it, Rose O’Neil and her mother are driving from Melbourne to the Victorian coastal town of Port Fairy to see Rose’s dying grandmother one last time. Along the way, through flashbacks, Rose remembers the last time she was travelling this way -- and why her best friend is no longer talking to her. Rose knows that she was in the wrong, but has her own troubles.
For starters, after a long and seemingly-perfect marriage, her father, a social justice lawyer, has suddenly announced he’s leaving his wife and family. Her mother has gone into a fit of depression and Rose and her sisters have no idea how to handle it. And, yes, Rose’s best friend, Zoe, appears to be making a play for a guy Rose considers to be hers. What Zoe has done to Rose however, is nothing at all compared with what Rose ends up doing to Zoe - having a secret affair with Zoe’s father. ( )