Bonnie, never domestically inclined, has given up her life as a musician to become a stay-at-home mother to three small children. She tells herself she has no regrets, but sometimes the isolation and endless drudgery are overwhelming, and threaten to swamp the love between Bonnie and her partner, Pete. Her almost-happy life is disrupted by the arrival of a character from her husband's past. Doug, an old mate of Pete's, is eccentric and intrusive, a lame duck who drifts in and then never seems to leave, bringing trouble with him. His unsettling presence provides the catalyst for this very suspenseful novel. When both Bonnie's and Pete's allegiances are tested, and the cracks really start to show in the life they've built together, it seems the dangers might not come only from outside but from within as well.