Love Hurts

Six months after PR guru Tessa Piggott broke up with her boyfriend, entrepreneur Frank Carver, the offer of a challenging new job at a charitable foundation provides an unexpected means to bring them back together-with a strictly business relationship, of course.

Frank is busy setting up a freezer plant near St. Petersburg, and when Tessa arrives to monitor his progress, she discovers that he’s also been busy with the beautiful Marisha, who has been assisting him on the project.

Back in England, Tessa is anxious to have a talk with Frank about their relationship, but Frank is equally eager to avoid the subject. Meanwhile, Frank recruits Tessa’s father and friend Diane to go in with him on a land deal.

Prompted by his successful land deal, Frank moves into a nice new flat with a very low rent-and everyone but him is convinced there’s a catch. Later, he and Tessa venture to St. Petersburg to check out a fast food co-op the foundation is sponsoring and end up in a dangerous situation.

Following their impromptu Russian wedding, Tessa and Frank try to sort out their new life together. As they debate everything from living arrangements to household clutter, Tessa begins to wonder if she really wants to make their marriage official.

On a work trip to Bulgaria, Tessa and Frank put their support behind two different projects: she favors a business studies center, whereas he wants to promote a radio station. As their professional disagreement boils over into their personal relationship, can the rift be repaired?

Now living quite happily with each other, Tessa and Frank contemplate having children. Diane is also preoccupied with family concerns, as she plans her son’s bar mitzvah and comes to a turning point with Simon. Max’s affair with a married woman lands him in legal trouble.

When a journalist asks a leading question about the Baumblatt Foundation’s ties to Russian oil at a press conference, Tessa is caught unawares, but Frank and Malcolm seem to know something about it. As Tessa investigates, both she and Frank are forced to make hard choices to save the foundation-and their relationship.

Tessa heads to Moscow to help remove some squatters from a derelict apartment building that the foundation plans to rebuild. However, when she discovers the true reason that the youngest residents won’t leave, her eviction efforts turn into a rescue mission, with Frank’s help.

When a small group of Russian orphans arrive in England on a trip organized by the foundation, Frank and Tessa end up taking care of a young boy named Kostya. But the couple won’t just be playing at being parents for much longer, as Tessa is pregnant and frets about telling Frank the news.