The Hurlingham Club in Buenos Aires is a little piece of England, home to the small Anglo-Argentine community where gossip is devoured as eagerly as the scones and Earl Grey tea. Here Audrey Garnet grows up and loses her heart to Louis Forrester. Finding in Audrey the one woman who understand him, Louis composes especially for her the forget-me-not sonata. To the hypnotic melody of this magical tune they embark upon a secret love affair. But a family tragedy brings their romance to an abrupt end and Audrey, ever the dutiful daughter, thrills her parents by accepting Louis's respectable elder brother, Cecil, as her husband. It is a sacrifice she bitterly regrets.