The day Nina's father dies, she discovers an old music manuscript written in his hand and locked away in a desk. Her father was no musical genius, so where did this symphony come from, and what compelled him to keep it hidden? The answer lies in a web of deceit that reaches back forty years. Digging into her family's past, Nina is forced to reconsider her own traumatic childhood, when her father's chronic hypochondria brought their family near to crumbling point. Nina's sole refuge had been the home of her best friend, whose parents were world champions of ballroom dancing.There she had found relief in the glittering world of Argentinian tango. In her thirties, Nina's life is already complicated - her American admirer seems doomed never to make it across the Atlantic and the prospect of a relationship with a Finnish tango dancer is enormously appealing. And as the symphony forces her to confront difficult questions about her father, she soon begins to wish she had never unlocked that desk...