Alice tells herself that Stark Point is quaint and charming - just the place to revive her relationship with boyfriend Charles. But deep in her heart, she knows he hates the bleak Somerset Levels which fascinate her so much. But things change dramatically when her not-quite-divorced husband turns up and drags her into the forty-year-old mystery of the disappearance of a local couple. Suddenly Alice finds herself the sole defender of Joe Keenthorne, shunned because the whole rural community thinks he got away with murder all those years ago. Then someone starts to vandalize her picture-perfect cottage . . .