Friendless and virtually an orphan, Tessa craves a husband and a baby: above all she wants to be loved. When her on-and-off lover, Ian, leaves her for the last time, Tessa embarks on a whirlwind romance with Rob Nicholls, and at last her dreams seem set to come true.

Now married to the perfect man, and with a baby on the way, motherless Tessa looks forward to getting to know her new mother-in-law. But before that can happen, Linda Nicholls is murdered and Tessa desperately needs to know why. Her quest for answers plunges her into a nightmare world of secrets, where nothing is as it seems, and her own life - and the life of her unborn child - are in danger.