Leanne Chalmers has been forced to start her life again as Lily, leaving her name, job and marriage behind. No one in the Lancashire village of Eagleton knows anything about Lily, and she gradually meets the local characters: Mike, the Catholic priest, the hairdressers, Paul and Maurice, and Eve with her big mouth and heart of gold. Lily joins Dave's Reading Room, a shop-cum-cafe, and begins to relax, but when Eve is wounded in a burglary Lily is afraid her secret is out: her husband Clive may have discovered where she is and is now out to kill her.