Josh White, a widower, is the minister of a church in a large town in the south of England. On one of his days off he goes for a drive in the country and stops to take some photographs at a village in the Cotswolds. He sees a café and art studio and stops for some lunch. The owner is a young woman about his own age and, as he is the only person in the café, he starts chatting to her about her art and the surrounding countryside. He leaves her and strolls along at the nearby canal and woods before returning to the café at tea time.
He takes a liking to this woman and invites her to join him in the local pub for a meal that evening before leaving to go home, but not before arranging to go and see her the following week on his day off.
This second visit is the beginning of events which take him out of his comfort zone and results in him becoming involved in a police murder investigation, but also leads significant changes in his life.