It is 1962, in this pit village in County Durham, but everyone is looking back towards the traditions of the past, except for Gloria, the local hair stylist Gloria is a modern woman - until she's found dead, floating in the coal-polluted shallows of a nearby pond Gloria's young niece, Kathleen, finds the body but refuses to accept the suicide explanation embraced by the village So twelve-year-old Kathleen keeps her eyes open, takes photographs with her Box Brownie camera and tries to work out what has happened In doing so embarks upon her own journey of discovery