Well, it's a good question, isn't it? And Cat O'Connor, escaping from a ruined affair, is about to find the answer. When she is invited to join a group of women in a huge, decaying farmhouse deep in the West Country, Cat prepares to embark on a life without men. She is promised a nirvana of serenity where the chores are done without mutinous mutterings, nourishing food simmers on the Aga and feelings are taken seriously. But Cat soon discovers that women are no saints either. Vegetable-related subterfuge, secret passions, a misogynist ghost and a pig called Dave all nudge Cat on her way to answering the vital question in every girl's life with wit, humour and warmth.