Synopsis

At twenty, Deborah Dearborn has achieved unexpected success with her debut novel: a bestseller centered on a woman of icy calculation, strikingly similar to her boyfriend’s stepmother. Now, residing in a Malibu beach house, she is in the process of negotiating the film rights to her work with a movie producer. This precarious situation is complicated by the sudden arrival of Stephanie Carew, the very stepmother who inspired the novel, who threatens legal action for defamation. The situation esca