Surrounded by dense, dark woodland, The Hermitage is an exclusive girls' school on the shores of Menai Strait. On a balmy summer night, someone lures Sukie Melville into those woods. The following day her body is pulled from the hungry water of the Strait. Superintendent Michael McKenna and his team, struggling to find the killer, are caught in the turbulent undercurrents of school life, and the silent conspiracies fostered by the headmistress, charismatic Freya Scott. The Hermitage girls appear to have everything, but the aura of wealth and privilege they wear hides bitter memories, especially amongst Sukie's old friends in the elite sixth form. As McKenna scratches the glossy surface, he unearths the vicious hidden agenda underpinning the school's ethos. Nothing in that dangerous hot bed of passionate, brooding resentments is what it seems, and no one can be trusted, least of all Freya Scott, to whom McKenna is recklessly attracted.