John Thaw stars as Joe MacConnell, a highly respected, principled and charismatic NHS plastic surgeon who seems to have it all: a wonderful, supportive wife, three lovely kids, a beautiful home and a fulfilling job that he is passionately devoted to. But while Joe helps rebuild the shattered lives of his patients, his own emotional wounds prove more difficult to heal. And when the fiery, alluring Louise (Frances Barber), a clinical psychologist, appears in his life, he is torn between his deep love for his wife and his consuming and ultimately destructive desire for his younger colleague.