When Sophie’s life falls apart, she accepts an invitation from a childhood friend, Caroline, to visit her family’s beautiful beach house, miles from the nearest town. The silence is broken only by the rhythmic crash of the waves against the jagged black rocks below. But when Sophie arrives, she finds her friend much changed. Caroline - who used to be so warm and confident - is secretive and on-edge, spending long, unexplained hours away from her family. And then there’s Caroline’s little daughter Lucy - who stopped speaking soon after they moved in.

Time stops for Jen when her beloved daughter, Gracie, is involved in a terrible car crash. Pronounced dead at the scene, it's a miracle when paramedics manage to then resuscitate the little girl. The relief Jen feels at Gracie's recovery is matched only by her fury at the driver of the car - her ex-husband's new girlfriend, Ella. Jen has never trusted Ella, and now her worst fears have been confirmed.

When Louise Taylor is hit by a car as she cycles home in the rain following a fight with her boyfriend, she’s left hurt, frightened, and confused. And worse, something tells her it wasn’t an accident. Housebound in her cramped apartment while she recovers, flashbacks to her traumatic childhood begin to resurface. Desperate to keep busy and distract herself, she hires Edward - a friend of a friend - to repaint her shabby living room and, hopefully, keep the past at bay. When Edward arrives - quiet, considerate, and handsome - Lou instantly feels like they’ve met before.

I could tell when my son started hiding things from me. He used to walk to school with a mischievous grin on his beautiful face. Now he avoids eye contact and keeps his head down. Since I discovered he’s being bullied by a classmate, I’ve spent every day worrying, my stomach churning with anxiety from the moment he leaves the house to the second he walks back through the door. Everyone keeps telling me I’m overreacting, but I won’t risk my child’s safety. My husband and I try to talk to the other boy’s parents, but it only makes things worse. Then our precious child is hurt. Enough is enough.

I know you. I know you in a way you can’t even imagine. I have been searching for you in the years since you wrote that letter - the letter that told me you were looking for me too. But now that I’ve found you, I don’t know if I can say the terrible truth of what I am. It would ruin your perfect life. It would hurt your beautiful daughter. So, I hesitate - bide my time, for now.