Tied to her invalid mother, a mundane job and in a dead end affair, Ellen dreams of a husband and family. Unexpectedly freed of all responsibility she returns to the scene of a childhood mystery but is distracted from her investigations by a local policeman apparently prepared to offer all she's ever wanted. But who is the mysterious man living rough in nearby woods? Are her enquiries into the disappearance of her friend twenty years ago responsible for at least two untimely deaths?