Brenda Blethyn stars as Erica, who has so far spent her life looking after other people. Since the death of her husband on her wedding night, she has divided her time between the needs of her son, Jeremy, and her boss with whom she’s been having an unsatisfactory affair for the past twelve years.
Now, Jeremy, at sixteen, is Managing Director of a successful computer games company and doesn’t seem to need her as much. And although Dexter, her boss, wants love, involvement, passion, just like her, he wants them with as many women as possible.
Within the space of a couple of hours, Erica gives up her lover, her job, and her chances for marriage. Then she finds her teenage diary containing a list of ‘Twelve Things I Am Going To Do Before I Am Forty’. The discovery symbolizes all of the hopes and dreams she has achieved, and heralds the start of a startling change in Erica's approach to life.