Olivia Anderson discovers a new life when she leaves home to take up a secretarial course in London. There she is drawn to a confident girl called Alice and they strike up an unlikely friendship. Alice says her family are awful and Olivia can only agree when she meets her miserable mother and tastes her terrible cooking. Then there’s Alice’s stepbrother Bill, a solicitor, who says she is a snake who would betray her best friend. Is there something about Alice that does not meet the eye? Shortly after Alice drops out of college and a shock announcement drives a wedge between the two women. As the years pass Olivia thinks less and less of her friend, until a phone call five years later. Olivia is thrilled to renew their acquaintance, but little does she know the havoc following in its wake. Can a leopard change its spots? Or should Olivia watch her back? Sometimes what you have is a magnet to those determined to take it away from you.