Tulip and his brother Rowan have left the simple comforts of their remote Scottish island with a plan: to grow succulent, organic vegetables in an idyllic market garden, and to open a restaurant serving these wholesome culinary delights to the busy sprawl of London...

Soon after young artist Rebecca arrives in the big city, she stumbles headlong into the arms of the charismatic Victor. When they fall madly in love, she's thrown into his socialite world of glamorous parties, devoted fans, and layabout debutantes. The people, the art, and the acclaim are exhilarating — until Victor's affections start to wander to his new pug, Princess. With her new boyfriend slipping away before her eyes, Rebecca's jealousy and fear threaten to upend everything. Can she hold onto the man she loves? Does she even really want to?

Francesca Saxon, artist and loyal citizen of the nation, is thrilled when she receives a commission to design the central mural of an epic new swimming pool: the jewel in the crown for an insecure regime obsessed by propaganda. Leaving the comfort of her coastal hometown for the lap of luxury of the capital, she is swept up in the paranoia of a government threatened by underground revolutionaries, whose promise of a freer, happier future looks increasingly appealing. Torn between rival factions and her personal loyalties, she realizes that when ideology has a stranglehold on art, the picture is rarely pretty.