Frances and Bobbi meet Melissa, a writer and photographer, after performing spoken-word poetry at a Dublin venue.

At a dinner at Melissa's, Nick tells Frances he has warmed to her more than to Bobbi and enjoyed the evening.

Frances and Nick kiss alone in a utility room at Melissa's birthday party.

While Melissa is away in London, Frances goes to Nick's house and they begin a sexual affair.

While Nick is filming in Scotland, their email communication collapses and Frances interprets his messages as a mutual breakup.

Frances and Bobbi visit Nick and Melissa's French villa, where Frances and Nick secretly resume their affair.

Bobbi knocks on Nick's bedroom door at the villa; Nick tells her Frances is inside with him.

Back in Dublin, Frances suffers a severe bleeding episode and is taken to hospital by her mother.

Nick confesses the affair to Melissa, who sends Frances a long email granting reluctant acceptance of the relationship.

The four friends resume group dinners, and a literary journal editor agrees to publish Frances's short story.

Nick discovers Frances barely has money for food and gives her two hundred euros as a loan.

A specialist tells Frances at her ultrasound appointment that she likely has endometriosis, a chronic and incurable condition.

Nick calls Frances to say he and Melissa are sleeping together again; weeks later, he and Frances break up.

Frances emails Bobbi a long, rambling apology, and Bobbi arrives at her apartment late that night to reconcile.

Nick accidentally calls Frances instead of Melissa; after a long conversation, he confesses strong feelings and she tells him to come pick her up.

Frances and Bobbi meet Melissa and her husband Nick after a poetry performance, and Frances begins a quiet flirtation with Nick that eventually leads to a secret sexual affair while Melissa is out of town. After a temporary breakup caused by collapsed communication while Nick is filming abroad, the affair resumes during a stay at a French villa, where Bobbi ultimately discovers the truth. Back in Dublin, Nick confesses to Melissa, who sends Frances a long and complicated email granting uneasy acceptance of the relationship, allowing a fragile group friendship to form among all four. Frances's life grows harder when she receives a chronic illness diagnosis and Nick reveals he has resumed sleeping with Melissa, eventually pushing the two toward a final breakup. Isolated from both Nick and Bobbi, Frances spirals before slowly reconciling with Bobbi and reaching a painful new understanding of herself. The novel ends ambiguously when an accidental phone call from Nick reignites their connection and Frances tells him to come pick her up.

The central love affair between Frances and Nick, from first kiss to final phone call.

Bobbi tells Frances after leaving Melissa's dinner that Nick and Melissa seem trapped in an unhappy marriage.

Nick reserves theater tickets for Frances after she mentions enjoying the play he is currently performing in.

Nick and Frances spend months exchanging flirtatious, irony-laden emails without making any direct declaration of feeling.

Frances visits her father in Ballina and spends the visit cleaning his dirty, unkempt apartment while he eats.

Nick emails Frances an apology after the birthday party kiss; she responds warmly, keeping the flirtation deliberately alive.

Frances packs a toothbrush before going to Nick's house to supposedly just discuss what happened between them.

Nick reveals to Frances that Melissa has had multiple affairs during their marriage.

Melissa invites Bobbi and Frances to spend time at a French villa she has access to for the summer.

During a party game at the villa, Bobbi draws Frances's name and asks Nick increasingly pointed personal questions about her.

Melissa pulls Frances aside in a hallway at the villa to ask whether Nick has done anything inappropriate toward her.

After returning to Dublin, Frances phones Bobbi to apologize for hiding the affair and to tell her about the hospital visit.

Nick and Frances's Dublin meetings deepen in intimacy; Frances's father stops depositing her allowance, leaving her unable to buy groceries.

On a date, Nick tells Frances the full story of his depression, hospitalization, and Melissa's affair with his best friend.

Bobbi reads Frances's published short story and confronts her for keeping it secret, saying she wants to move out.

Frances collapses from pain in a church and, after recovering, phones Melissa in a frank and mutually honest conversation.

Long before the affair becomes serious, small gestures — a flirtatious dinner observation, a pair of theater tickets, and months of irony-laden emails — slowly build the connection between Frances and Nick while both avoid saying anything direct. Frances keeps her growing feelings hidden not only from Melissa but from Bobbi, even as her home life grows unstable and her father's apartment and finances begin to deteriorate. The affair deepens in secret during the French villa trip, where Melissa grows suspicious enough to question Frances privately in a hallway, and Frances lies convincingly. Back in Dublin, Frances eventually confesses the affair to Bobbi and struggles to maintain the relationship with Nick as her financial situation worsens without her father's support. A rare moment of genuine honesty on a dinner date, when Nick shares the full story of his depression and hospitalization, is immediately undercut when Bobbi discovers and confronts Frances about her secretly published short story. Frances's slow unraveling and her frank, unexpected phone call with Melissa mark the beginning of her reaching toward honesty.

The smaller moments and hidden secrets that quietly shaped the story's major events.

Frances gradually realizes during Melissa's first gathering that Melissa is far more captivated by Bobbi than by her.

Nick arrives late to a poetry performance and witnesses the crowd giving Frances and Bobbi an enthusiastic reception.

Frances takes her colleague Philip to Nick's play and afterward drafts several failed attempts before sending one brief thank-you email.

During a late-night conversation at the villa, Nick tells Frances he still loves Melissa, hurting her though she pretends otherwise.

Bobbi confesses to Frances that she kissed Melissa once on the night of Nick's birthday party, but nothing more happened.

When a guest gossips about Nick's mental health history at the villa dinner, Frances bluntly tells her to ask Nick directly.

After Frances's outburst at dinner, Bobbi takes her outside into the rain, teases her affectionately, and unexpectedly kisses her.

Frances finds her father's Dublin apartment abandoned and crawling with insects and maggots; she backs out the door without entering.

At a literary reading, Frances flirts with Bobbi to provoke Nick's jealousy; Bobbi seizes her wrist and tells her not to use her.

Frances matches with a man on a dating app; when she loses interest during sex, he ignores her signals and continues.

Frances writes a short story clearly based on Bobbi in one long, uninterrupted session the morning after an argument with Nick.

During an argument, Frances tells Nick the real issue is that she loves him while he does not love her.

At Nick's birthday party, Frances is overwhelmed after being handed his infant niece to hold and leaves the party abruptly.

Frances's father calls sounding deeply morose and tells her she would probably be better off without him.

Frances and Bobbi resume a sexual relationship after reconciling but agree not to call themselves girlfriends or follow social scripts.

From the very first gathering, small revelations set the story's emotional stakes — Frances noticing her own invisibility beside Bobbi, Bobbi privately confessing she kissed Melissa, and Nick admitting during the villa trip that he still loves his wife despite the affair. The French villa becomes a crucible for charged turning points, including Frances publicly defending Nick against a gossipy guest and Bobbi unexpectedly kissing Frances in the rain outside. Back in Dublin, Frances repeatedly tests and crosses limits — using Bobbi to provoke Nick's jealousy, enduring an unwanted encounter with a stranger, and finally blurting out during an argument that she loves Nick. Her father's worsening isolation haunts the edges of her life while the accumulation of diagnoses, breakups, and confrontations forces Frances to reckon with how thoroughly her mask of invulnerability has isolated her from the people she loves. The story closes with Frances and Bobbi choosing a relationship without labels — a quiet but meaningful act of redefining love on their own terms.