Stuart Hammer hires ghostwriter Nell Bane to write a "word portrait" of his wife Ramona O'Hara-a companion piece to the oil painting he has commissioned from Nell's artist friend Ann Fitzmaurice. As they work, the women discover that Hammer not only idolizes his wife, but he idealizes her. And as they peel back the story to reveal the truth, they expose a reality that is quite different from the story Hammer imagines. And when reality and idealism clash, Nell finds herself with an ethics problem that spirals down into scandal.