Holly Christmas is a twenty-eight year old teacher who shares a small house in Dublin with her cat, Claude. She has always seen herself as a refreshingly honest individual who doesn't suffer fools gladly.

When her current boyfriend tells her that it's over between them, he goes to some lengths to point out that the fault is entirely hers. Holly tries to laugh it off, but when she gets back to her lonely little house, she begins to think...She's heard this sort of thing from men before. Where she sees refreshing honesty, they tend to see shocking bluntness. Could this be the real reason why her love life is such a disaster?

When the school term begins, Holly's finds that she has a new colleague, James. He's a relentlessly cheerful, affable people-person. In short, he's everything that Holly is not. At first, she is merely intrigued by him. How does he do it? But intrigue quickly turns to attraction. And problems...