Anny and Troy are having an affair, as are their characters, Emily and Ben, in the film. In either case, no one must know. Anny's boyfriend, French philosopher Jacques Soldat, could turn up on the set at any time and Ben is Emily's driver, so the relationship would be frowned upon: this is the sixties, after all. Reggie Tipton - well he prefers to be called Rodrigo Tipton - is the director and one of the perks of the job is that he gets a rather splendid house for the duration of the filming and installed there is his wife, novelist Elfrida Wing. Well, I call her a 'novelist' but the days when she was known as ''the new Virginia Woolf'' have passed by in a cloud of alcohol fumes and she thinks that no one knows what's in those bottles of Sarson's white vinegar. She can't make up her mind whether she's a 'sipper' or a 'bender' as far as her vodka consumption goes but she's rarely far removed from her last glass. She does know that she doesn't trust Reggie: he has form.
Anny Viklund has another problem. Well, it shouldn't be a problem, really , as Cornell Weekes is, as she keeps stating, her ''ex''-husband, but he's just escaped custody and the FBI are sure that she knows something about his whereabouts. She does, actually, but it's not sympathy with his views which persuades her to give him some money but an attempt to simplify her life: trying to keep a professional face on a boyfriend, an affair and an ex-husband who's a terrorist is getting a bit much.
Talbot Kydd has a secret too. He might have a wife and two adult children but he's been keeping his sexual proclivities well hidden since his adolescence. He's got a flat his wife knows nothing about and that's where he takes his photographs. Then there's the fact that his partner, Yorgos Samsa, is trying to defraud him. Anny, Elfrida and Talbot have built their lives around keeping their true lives secret but there comes a point when a decision has to be made about what makes life worth living - and what you do about it.