Elaine and Laura do not know each other but their lives are linked by events which happened generations ago.
Elaine's contentment is disrupted by an impulse buy a book with supernatural properties which proves to be damaging to her physical and mental health.
Laura is behaving irrationally because she is distraught about her seriously ill daughter Lilly and is on a course to make things worse with the help of a conman who is pretending to be a doctor.
Tess, a shadow from the past, is there to help them both.