After an affair which ends in tragedy, Teresa leaves her unhappy marriage to seek peace and solitude in a cottage in the country.
She does not have peace for long though, because she meets Gloria: tactless, controlling – and impossible to avoid. Gloria's daughter Rachel died two years earlier, and she lives with her widowed son-in-law Joseph and his two children, in the house just a hundred yards away.
Joseph struggles to move on, not knowing whether his wife's death was suicide or an accident, and Gloria seems to thrive on his grief and guilt. As time goes on his memories become less rose-tinted and he begins to realise Rachel was not the person he thought she was.
When a romance develops between Joseph and Teresa, Gloria's behaviour becomes increasingly bizarre and destructive, threatening both their relationship and the fragile rapport between Teresa and the children.
As her own past catches up with her, Teresa resolves to discover the truth about Rachel's death, with disastrous consequences.