Clare Moorhouse is an American in Paris who has been leading a graceful life abroad. There are pleasures to being married to a high-ranking diplomat, but there are also appearances to upheld and responsibilities to be executed - like tonight's unexpected dinner party, one crucial to her husband's career. As Claire navigates the spring-green streets of Paris, shopping for fresh stalks of asparagus, the right cheeses, and seasonal flowers for the table, she is haunted by a brief period of violence in her past that threatens to resurface and crack the immaculate veneer she's worked hard to achieve. At tonight's dinner, her husband hopes to receive a new posting and an advancement. But to Clare, the potential move means wrestling with a secret that has been deeply and carefully buried for twenty-five years - or so she thought.