A cantankerous, elegant old woman sits in her beautiful Somerset house while her family secretly plots to evict her. In the garden is her one remaining racehorce, prematurely retired, and in London the man she probably should have married – who is still her dearest friend.Onto this scene comes Maeve Delaney. Sole applicant for the job of companion to Lady Pamela, streetwise and outrageous, Maeve bursts into the old house like a firecracker. As open warfare settles into a wary truce between the two women, Maeve sets her heart on bringing the great racehorce, Irish Dancer, out of retirement, and everything changes.