Connie Darke is trying to run away from the traumas in her past, and its led her home, to the small rural council estate she left almost 20 years earlier. Matilda Reynolds has spent most of her long life in the Worcestershire village of Stonecastle, and shes content there, with her animals and her solitude. Until a fall lands her in hospital, and Matilda has to turn to her strange young neighbour Connie for help looking after her home. Out of their tentative arrangement, each woman gains a new sense of community. But before long, that community comes under threat when the council decides to sell the estate, to make way for expensive developments. Connie and Matilda are determined to fight for their home, whatever it takes.