Devastated upon learning of her daughter's murder, Barbara O'Shea rushes to her ex-husband's home to share her grief and plan the funeral. Besides the grief of losing her daughter so young, she also grapples with the sorrow of never being able to reconnect with her. Barbara had abandoned her family when Andrea was only three years old. There had been no softening in the tensions between mother and daughter.

Since she lives alone, Barbara goes back to work the day after hearing the news. She needs to keep busy, to keep her mind off her loss. She finds comfort in the arms of her married lover, never imagining that this arrangement wasn't perfect for who she is. Kevin Pritchard, her ex-husband, finds it much harder to manage his pain and wishes he could lean on Barbara more than she allows.

Good at stuffing down her emotions, Barbara is unprepared for the verbal assault from her lover's wife. She reacts badly, costing her the job she loves and the future she was relying on. Alone and bereft, she must return to the home she once left and deal with the complicated emotions of her broken marriage and her childhood trauma.