Louise Widdows has never been happy in her marriage. Of a generation where the woman's role was assumed to be one of support and supplication, she provided both in exchange for a secure roof over her head. But her facade of genteel acceptance disguises two secrets - a child born in adultery and given away at birth, and a small inheritance she has kept hidden from her husband. Then two events align to free her from her miserable existence: the father of her son dies allowing her the luxury of attempting to find him, and her husband abruptly leaves her. Abandoning the shabby matrimonial home, she moves into the cottage left to her by her mother and begins to blossom in her independence. But other events have collided - the discovery of a body near her old home and another close to a former residence of theirs, and the realisation that her husband has absconded with a charity's funds as well as the contents of their bank account. Suddenly her new life doesn't seem so secure, and she begins to doubt that she will have time to enjoy it, never mind locate her unknown son.