Catherine St.John-Burke is an independent, uptight, status obsessed, sophisticated, British woman, living alone in London's Chelsea, and doing herself no favors by having an affair with a married man. Her world is turned upside down when she comes home one day to discover an uneducated, Kiwi woman (with very hairy legs) drinking beer in her living room. Shirley Zachary claims to be Catherine's long lost half-sister and that their father, who Catherine thought died when she was a child, is still alive and trying to make claims on both of their properties following the death of their mothers! Furious and frustrated with Shirley's refusal to 'disappear', Shirley reluctantly agrees to undertake a DNA test.

After training as a junior perfumer in Paris, American Rosalie fails to secure a job in France, leaving her no option but to return home to the small town she was brought up in with her sister. With a small inheritance from her late grandmother, she decides to try to rent a store to sell her own perfume. The only space available is shared with the local furniture store, owned by the previously geeky kid from school, Jason, who has now blossomed into a handsome man.