That's not what I mean. I mean, I don't just want to have an affair with you. Affairs are like, I don't know, buying a vacation apartment in Marbella for shared use or something. Oliver and Stuart have been friends since school days. When Stuart meets Gillian, the woman he wants to marry, he is overjoyed. Everything sounds like a happy ending. But Oliver is also in love with Gillian, which he realizes the day after the wedding. And he doesn't give up; instead, he hopes to win over his best friend's wife for himself. Julian Barnes has written a novel in which the protagonists speak individually, revealing all-too-human depths in a highly amusing way.