Elizabeth Wallace, having returned to Scotland after a two years stint in what she considers a disastrous experience as a senior leader of a new Australian government organisation, has rebuilt her personal and professional life.
Living in Glasgow, she and Alex Wallace, a man she has loved since childhood, have restored their relationship. With her dearest friend, Lynda Muir, she has created a new organisation called Impossible Thinking Unlimited that focuses on their shared passion for all things bookish, creative ideas, publishing and what they hope will be spaces for challenging conversations.
Elizabeth and Alex travel to south-west Australia to launch ITU internationally and to acknowledge the legacy of a deeply complex woman Elizabeth met three years before and who left her the buildings and land on which the new ITU will be established.
Alex's sudden death will plummet Elizabeth back to Scotland into a black hole made all the deeper by a gift from her late aunt, a gift Alex had kept secret for eight years. Deep in confusion and grief Elizabeth does not welcome an unexpected visitor who brings both responsibilities and demands that cannot be dismissed.
As more and more comes to light about her late aunt, challenging Elizabeth's assumptions about her family, life becomes even more complex by the arrival of a mysterious woman who appears determined to intrude herself into every aspect of Elizabeth's life.
The subsequent torment of what Elizabeth discovers is overlaid by demands made by this woman - demands that become more and more threatening, both physically and emotionally.
Elizabeth will have to face uninvited truths, her own anger at betrayals and a final confrontation to protect those she loves before she can begin to find peace with who she is.