Everyone in Crossley knew May McNabb. As a local headmistress, she found a place in the hearts of generations as a woman to respect and love. Upon May's retirement, her daughter Eve thought they would finally have the time to become close again. But it wasn't to be; within months of retiring May McNabb had died - suddenly and painfully - of the cancer she had kept secret from her daughter. Lying innocently among the condolence cards and bills on May's doormat, Eve finds a letter with the potential to unravel everything thought she knew about her mother. As she reads its contents, Eve comes to realise there was a part of May's life she didn't know at all - a part that held a secret which would have shocked her family and the close-knit community she lived in if it had ever become known.