On New Zealand's South Island a twelve-year-old girl walks into the waters of an alpine lake. Saved before she freezes or drowns, she is found to be pregnant. The police are called. The girl disappears. Detective Robin Griffin, recently returned to the area to care for her sick mother, is pulled in by the local police force to help with the case. Robin's investigation will send shockwaves through the town and dig up a personal history she had hoped to keep buried.

As the search for the missing girl grows in intensity, so do fears for her survival. Detective Robin Griffin pursues a suspect to his house for questioning but risks losing her own life by going after him. She gets a warrant to search Matt Mitcham's house but while there discovers something she hoped not to hear.

The case seems to be getting away from Robin. The girl is still missing and the community is beginning to buckle under the weight of suspicion. Under pressure herself, Robin rekindles a relationship with an old flame Johnno Mitcham, the older son of the Mitcham clan. But inviting her past back into her life may have been a mistake, old wounds are still raw and anger explodes into violence.

A violent indiscretion sees Robin thrown off the case. The police quietly close the case on the missing girl, there have been no leads and she is assumed dead. But Robin won't let go. Even as she tries to process the pain of her own past, Robin carries on working unofficially on the case, unearthing a small glimmer of hope.

Robin's mother warns her about dating Johnno but doesn't explain why; Robin and Johnno uncover crucial evidence.

Matt's reveals a shocking secret about Johnno to Robin that almost destroys her. Meanwhile, the disappearance of Tui comes to a shocking end.