The abrupt ending of an intense love-affair has left Morris haunted by memories of the dark beauty of his lost love. He believes that escape from this torment will only be found in the arms of a fair-haired woman. On a walking holiday along the Santiago de Compostela pilgrim route, he sets his sights on the blond Diana, convinced she will free him from the spell of his past love.
He, and holiday friend Jerry, waggishly assign names of The Canterbury Tales pilgrims to their fellow walkers. Constance, holidaying alone, is doing a similar thing. Diana, and her friend Helen, learn of their secretive labelling, and the five agree to tell their own personal tales. Hidden aspects of the narrators' lives, beyond anything expected from comparative strangers, are exposed in these intriguing stories.
Morris persists in his pursuit of the tantalising Diana, a golden goddess in whose bed he believes lies exorcism of the spectre of his former love. Who is sleeping with who? And what new pairings are being made? These are the questions in the air as the contemporary evocations of Chaucer's pilgrims, the Wife of Bath, Miller, Monk, Manciple, Prioress, Physician, Knight and Man of Law, intertwine along the holy pathway.