Suddenly exiled from Paris by her father, fifteen-year old Agnes finds herself living in the south of France with her sister Sophie, her ailing grandfather and two servants in the family’s long-neglected summer villa. Without any friends, they begin exploring the Riviera as a means of distracting themselves from the mysterious scandal that has sent their family south.

It is against the postwar backdrop of the Côte d'Azur where they meet Jules Agard, a self-described man of leisure who takes them under his wing, acting as their tour guide, confidant and chauffeur. While obligingly showing them a bit of jet-set glamour, Jules shares his two burning passions with Agnes: the brilliant artist Henri Matisse, who is completing his chapel at Vence, and Fausto Coppi, the great Italian cyclist who is the only man to have won both the Tour d’France and the Giro d’Italia in the same year.

It is a confusing place for Agnes to come of age: the beauty of the ocean and the clarity of the light are no match for the opaque intrigues that swirl around her life. By the time the summer has ended, she has learned that deceit can be as consuming as love, and while beauty might remain constant, this Riviera is a place where people come to reinvent themselves, regardless of the consequences.