At the age of thirty-two, Harriet Swift thinks she has the perfect life - a satisfying career, her own flat and a new boyfriend who respects her need for her own space. But when tragedy strikes and her only sister is killed in a car crash, Harriet is forced to give up her well-ordered life and to help her parents look after her orphaned niece and nephew. Moving back to her childhood home, Maple Drive, and sacrificing so much doesn't come easy and before long Harriet discovers things about her family she never believed possible. As she uncovers a web of secrets and lies, while rekindling old friendships with the McKendrick boys - the dangerously dynamic Dominic and his brother, Miles - she learns that the sister to whom she was devoted was not all she seemed.

Meanwhile, the shabbiest house in Maple Drive has a new occupant. In his mid-forties, Will Hart also thinks he has the perfect life. Having dispensed with an early mid-life crisis and swapped a successful career as a lawyer for that of an antiques dealer, he is happy with his lot. He has two fantastic daughters to whom he is devoted and a comfortable home, but when he discovers he's about to become a grandfather, things start to unravel for him. Then from nowhere tragedy strikes and he faces the biggest challenge of his life...