When Audrey Kepler inherits an abandoned homestead in rural Queensland she jumps at the chance to escape her loveless existence in the city and make a fresh start. In a dim back room of the old house she discovers the crumbling photo of a handsome World War II soldier - Samuel Riordan, the homestead's former occupant - and soon finds herself becoming obsessed with him. But as Samuel's story unravels, Audrey discovers that he was accused of bashing to death a young Aboriginal woman upon his return from war in 1944. When she learns that other unexplained deaths have occurred in recent years - one of them a young woman with injuries echoing those of the 1944 victim - she begins to suspect that the killer is still very much alive. And now Audrey - thanks to her obsessive need to uncover the past - has provided him with good reason to want to kill again.