Anna Westlake is a jobbing political journalist living in Canterbury with her wife, a successful professor. After jumping in for a TV interview outside the Houses of Parliament to help out a sick colleague, she learns that the head of features is impressed by her performance. She is summoned by the BBC, where she is offered the chance to host a late evening political discussion programme. On the way out of the building a defective lift literally pushes her into the arms of the beautiful and heavily pregnant sports anchor, Jessie Sutherland. Anna is fascinated by the woman, whose private life is shrouded in mystery. After a lengthy preparation time, the programme Anna Westlake Live goes on the air and is an immediate success. It catapults her to fame, but her home life becomes increasingly problematic. Her wife finds it difficult to cope with the new balance of power in their household. Anna and Jessie work in the same building and inevitably meet again. All is not as it appears in the life of the sports reporter with two children. They grow closer as the cracks widen in Anna's marriage.