The Independent journalist Tamara Drewe returns to Dorset, Ewedown, to sell the Winnard Farm that belonged to her deceased mother. Her neighbor Beth Hardiment runs a writers retreat with her unfaithful and womanizer husband Nicholas Hardiment who is a successful writer of Inchcombe adventures and cheats on Beth every now and then with younger women. Tamara was the sweetheart of the handyman Andy Cobb, whose family owned the Winnard Farm but lost it to Tamara's family, and when she sees him, she rekindles her love for him. However, when Tamara travels to interview the unpleasant drummer of the Swipe band Ben Sergeant, he has just found that his girlfriend Fran is having an affair with the other musician Steven Culley and he breaks up with the band. Tamara and Ben have a love affair and Ben moves to Winnard. Meanwhile, Ben's teenager fan Jody Long and her best friend Casey Shaw who are bored in Ewedown feel happy with the presence of Ben in the village. When Ben proposes to Tamara, they travel to London to spend a couple of days in the big city. Meanwhile, the jealous Casey breaks in Tamara's house and uses her computer to send an e-mail pretending to be Tamara that will change the lives of the dwellers and end in a tragedy.