So begins the second investigation for strait-laced Carole and her more laid-back neighbor Jude. This time their inquiries take them away from their seaside village of Fethering to the small downland hamlet of Weldisham.

There gossips quickly identify the corpse as Tamsin Lutteridge, a young woman who disappeared from the village months before. Detective Sergeant Baylis will confirm nothing. So why is Tamsin's mother, a friend of Jude's, so certain her daughter is still alive? Why is village elder statesman Graham Forbes suddenly taking an interest in Carole? And why is the decidedly unstable Brian Helling so keen to announce that there is a serial killer on the loose?

As Jude sets out to find Tamsin, either dead or alive, Carole digs deeper into Weldisham's history and the bitter relationships simmering beneath the village's gentle facade.