Helen at the Beach

Helen N, a violinist, a regular on a TV series, a college music professor, and single mother of four, found herself suddenly without her beautiful lover, and her life seemed to be coming apart at the seams. Unexpectedly, Amy Salvatori, whom Helen had known and loved since Sophomore Year in college, proposed to her, just before being operated on for breast cancer.

Amy knows all about Helen's promiscuous ways. With great restraint, Helen has left her students strictly alone. But from the time Helen discovered sex, she's fallen in love with dozens of women. Amy has been a bystander for fifteen years, but now she wants to take charge of Helen; she believes that none of Helen's lovers have understood the needs of the brilliant musician. They want to start off their new life with a protracted holiday at the beach, incognito. Amy uses her real name (though she is well known in pediatric surgery circles), while Helen goes as Elaine Gibson. The gang has landed in a little seaside town called Nowhere, in an idyllic little cottage, and the kids quickly make friends with a number of teenagers. "Elaine" takes a job at a local general store, while Amy signs up as a Nurse Practitioner at the seaside Clinic.

Things are going swimmingly until a number of beautiful people come into Helen's life. Two of these is a brother and sister pair, the sheltered children of a reclusive photographer who has arranged to do a coffee-table book about Helen. Another is sweet, innocent Hattie, who comes daily to the general store, apparently just to visit Helen.

Meanwhile, Gena, Helen's eldest, about to go to college, has her own adventures. Wildly popular with the local teen crowd, Gena, too, falls in love with two young people, and comes to the attention of the local District Attorney, who just happens to have attended the same boarding school as Gena.