Who is the man secretly and nearly invisibly living at Thornhill, the house where Miranda was brought up and which she has just inherited? Miranda, fearless and determined, does not inform the police that a squatter is living in the empty house, instead one night she walks silently into the nearly dark kitchen, equipped with cheese, crackers and a bottle of wine, and confronts the stranger.

His story wrenches her heart – a man who has lost everything and is struggling to get back on his feet. Felix, depressed and lonely, clearly needs help and Miranda impulsively makes it her mission to put his life to rights. After extensive research and evidence gathering, by ruthlessly using all the resources at her disposal and telling quite a number of lies, Miranda formulates a plan.