Nothing lies west of Sunset Boulevard except the Pacific Ocean, and nothing lies west of the sunset itself but eternity . . . Hugo Arlington, a celebrated young writer, is killed in a tragic road accident. Or was it a deliberate act of suicide? Stranded and impoverished, Hugo’s widow Alice and their two daughters are forced to exchange the splendours of Beverly Hills for a modest existence in West Los Angeles. Surrounded by friends, self-imposed exiles like herself, Alice struggles to come to terms to a future without Hugo. But beneath the apparent calm of their expatriate life lie truths which force their way to the surface. For Hugo Arlington’s memory will not die and the past holds debts that have to be paid.