They call it the tall poppy syndrome. If you are too successful, you must be cut down to size.

Nina and Elizabeth are tall poppies. One a poor Jewish girl who becomes a brilliant business woman, the other an English public schoolgirl who is a champion skier. Women from different parts of the world, from different sides of the social track, but under the skin the same.

Both desperate to escape from a past which dragged them down and determined to make an extraordinary mark on the world. Both unlucky in love. Both with enemies who will not willingly see them succeed.