The Frenchman introduces himself as Fabrice de Sauveterre and remarks that with him, affairs usually last five years. At lunch, Linda recounts her story. Fabrice critiques her clothing, but admits she has some charm. Linda feels an immediate, overwhelming physical attraction to Fabrice, which she finds both thrilling and frightening. She resists his invitation to see his apartment, insisting she is a respectable woman.

Over the next two days, Fabrice courts Linda. He lends her money for her ticket, takes her to dinner, and shows her Paris, including a trip to Versailles. Linda is captivated by his stories and conversation but continues to insist she must return to London. He does not pressure her, but calls her hotel room at two o’clock in the morning and asks to come over. Linda agrees, acknowledging that the night porter can be under no illusion as it is.

Fabrice installs Linda in a luxurious modern apartment overlooking the Bois de Boulogne, complete with a housekeeper named Germaine. Linda soon learns that Fabrice is a wealthy duke. He tells her about his deceased fiancée, Louise, a beautiful and proper woman he still mourns, which makes Linda intensely jealous.

Linda and Fabrice establish a routine: Fabrice spends every night with Linda, but is occupied with his own affairs during the day. Linda passes the time shopping for expensive clothes with the money he gives her. One day, Lord Merlin and Davey Warbeck make a surprise visit to Linda; it was Davey who hired a detective to find her new address. They are amused by Linda’s new life as a kept woman and warn her that Fabrice is known throughout Europe as a notorious womanizer. When Fabrice learns of their visit, he is unconcerned. As the threat of war grows, he makes Linda promise that she will return to England the moment he tells her it is necessary.

While waiting for Merlin and Davey at the Ritz, Linda overhears two women discussing Fabrice’s devotion to another woman, Jacqueline, who is away in England. Devastated, Linda goes to Fabrice’s ancestral home to confront him, but is awed by its grave, civilized beauty and realizes that causing a scene would be pointless. After war is declared, Fabrice moves into Linda’s apartment, shutting up his own and sending his mother to the country; his intelligence job keeps him mostly in Paris, so Linda sees rather more of him than before. He showers her with extravagant Christmas gifts, including a sable coat and a bulldog puppy she names Plon-plon.

One day in April, Fabrice arrives from the front looking grave and worried. He tells Linda she must leave for England immediately. Linda attempts to leave behind the expensive clothes he bought her, feeling she cannot take them, but he insists. He escorts her and Plon-plon to a plane bound for London, ending her idyllic life in Paris.

Back in her London house in Cheyne Walk, Linda waits anxiously for news from Fabrice as France falls to the Germans. Fanny’s husband, Alfred, and the Radlett boys (Bob, Matt, and little Robin) all return safely from the evacuation at Dunkirk. Fanny visits Linda and finds her unpacking trunks of beautiful clothes sent from Paris. Linda tells Fanny that her time with Fabrice constituted “eleven months of perfect and unalloyed happiness” (177). Before being sent to the United States for safety, Linda’s first daughter Moira pays her a brief, awkward visit.

After months of silence, Fabrice phones Linda early one morning. He comes to her house and tells her for the first time that he loves her, explaining that he risked the journey to England just to say it. He has joined General de Gaulle and is now working for the French Resistance. After one day together, he leaves again in a Free French military car, promising he will be “back and forth” (186), but their parting leaves Linda in despair.

The London Blitz begins. After a bomb damages their house, Fanny and her family take refuge at Alconleigh. They are soon joined by Fanny’s mother, the Bolter, and her new Spanish lover, Juan, who is quickly hired as the family’s cook after revealing his culinary genius. Fanny visits Linda in London and learns she is pregnant with Fabrice’s child. Shortly after, Linda’s house is destroyed in a raid. Rescued unharmed, Linda finally agrees to move to Alconleigh.

Linda spends a quiet pregnancy reading fairy tales. A letter arrives from Fabrice, but his handwriting is completely illegible. During a tense invasion scare, Uncle Matthew makes detailed plans for the family’s defense, ordering Davey to blow up the well-stocked store-cupboard to deny supplies to the Germans; Linda subsequently takes Uncle Matthew aside to learn how to do it herself, doubting Davey’s willingness.

On May 28, Linda gives birth to a boy but dies from complications. Around the same time, Fabrice is captured by the Gestapo in France and executed; he is hailed as a hero of the Resistance. Fanny adopts their orphaned son, also named Fabrice. The Bolter tells Fanny that Linda’s death was perhaps for the best, and when Fanny says Fabrice was the great love of Linda’s life, the Bolter replies sadly, “One always thinks that. Every, every time” (214).