On a bitter winter’s night in Pine Creek, 1989, central New South Wales, 14-year-old city boy Alec tells his mother a secret before he goes to bed.
It’s the last time she will see him alive.
In the weeks before, forbidden to go near the new neighbours, Sara is watching when Alec is threatened by a stranger, and later, when he meets secretly with someone familiar.
When Alec goes missing, the incidents take on new significance, but in the menacing shadow of her father, Sara knows not to make trouble.
A decade later, the guilt that still plagues her resurfaces when Sara returns to the farm, where she discovers that the darkest secrets lie closest to home.