On a summer's day in 1955, the drowned body of young Danny Masters is discovered by three of his teenage friends: Alexander, heir to the country estate that neighbours the village, and siblings Lennie and Tom, whose father is land agent to the Richmond family. Lennie is in love with volatile Alexander, but is he also in love or merely playing with her? Alexander's mother has been a widow for less than a year, yet her husband's brother seems always to be by her side. In the weeks that follow the tragic drowning, the river begins to give up its secrets. As the circumstances surrounding Danny's death emerge, relationships and bonds develop, and other stories gradually come to the surface, threatening to destroy an entire way of life.