Ella Graham is an artist whose career is on the rise. But when her younger sister, Chloe, asks her to paint her fiancé, Nate, Ella is dismayed—she distrusts Nate, and painting him is the last thing she’d like to do. But in the studio, Ella sees Nate in a different light. As her latest portrait subjects—a charming older woman with a wartime secret, a handsome politician and a privileged Frenchwoman—take her into their confidence, Ella realizes that there is much more to a person’s life than what can be seen on the surface.