Honor Wilson, self-styled Bohemian woman of means, runs a small literary journal and lodgings out of her Chelsea rooming house on Tregunter Road, where she lives alongside her 'dear houseguests;' poet Robbie, aspiring socialite Mina, artists' model George, and writer and widower Saul. When a man arrives at Tregunter Road looking for lodgings, the housemates sense something is amiss. Despite their protestations, Honor lets Jimmy move in. As they try to figure out if there really is something rotten about Jimmy, secrets, jealousies, and vengeful fantasies come to light, disrupting the careful balance of allegiances at the house, leading, ultimately, to a murder that will implicate everyone.