In her beautiful Seacliff house, six blocks straight down from the Barbour family home on the ocean edge of San Francisco, Claudia Barbour Lacey stands alone at the wide living room windows, looking out beyond the Golden Gate, at an ocean turbulent under the grey fall sky. It is late afternoon, and the fire sends long shadows racing up the walls, and although Nicholas is in England on an prolonged business trip, Claudia has a sense of being 'looked after' as some member of the family is always dropping in to see how she is getting along...