Orphaned by drink, drugs and rock n' roll, Gwen Roland is invited to spend Christmas at her actor boyfriend Alfie's family home. She's excited about the prospect of a proper holiday with a proper family. But no sooner than she arrives, Gwen notices that something isn't quite right. A suspicious old photograph, an enigmatic gardener, furtive glances and snatched whispers cloak the house in mysterious shadows. But it is when Gwen discovers fragments of forgotten family letters that she begins piecing together the jigsaw of the past. And it is then that she realises there's a lot more to Alfie's family history than she's been told...