Fiona, an accomplished young artist, falls in love with Raymond. An older married man.Their haunted relationship evolves in a floating melange of restaurants and hotel rooms against the looming backdrop of their separate, anonymous cities.Although erotically charged, the affair is never consummated - yet the love Fiona feels intensifies into an obsession that continues to possess her long after Raymond leaves her.Along the way, at receptions and restaurant tables, at dinner parties and on trips, Fiona meets other men and women in relationships that are coming together or falling apart-friendships, marriages, love affairs - each offering their own version of love's nature.And, throughout, Raymond's wife Helen holds a central place.For Fiona, Helen herself is the other woman - mysterious, enviable and untouchable.From the Hardcover edition.