Chrissie Reid a young battered wife living on a small Orkney island in 1906 finally turns on her husband Jack. After a particularly brutal attack she is driven to offering him poison. With no memory of that night she believes she has killed him especially when she finds evidence of a body buried in the byre. In spite of her guilt at having taken another life Chrissie eventually finds love again. Her strength determination & love for her fellow islanders carry her through fourteen years of hardship intercepted & exacerbated by the Great War. But the past wont stay hidden & fourteen years after that fateful night Chrissie is forced to confront the nightmare which has overshadowed her life. With the arrival of a letter she discovers that nothing is as it seems. A series of events over which she has no control are set in motion. Lies & secrets are uncovered leading to a dramatic & tragic climax.