Emily is the last person to admit to seeing Leah Parata alive. Leah is never found having headed off into the hills to check on a rare breed of snails. Twenty five years later Emily returns to New Zealand from London which she has made her home. Her father is exhibiting more and more signs of his dementia diagnosis, as his guard slips Emily pieces together what might have happened all those years ago. Her father Felix has been looked after by his neighbour Raewyn, Leah's mother, and Leah's brother Ira. With Emily's older twin brother and sister trying to put Felix in the care home he worked in as a doctor she holds out while worrying that he will let the truth about Leah slip.
The story concludes with Felix also going missing and the dreadful truth of his going to join Leah in her final resting place dawning on Emily. She then has to break the news to Raewyn and Ira.
The story concludes with Felix also going missing and the dreadful truth of his going to join Leah in her final resting place dawning on Emily. She then has to break the news to Raewyn and Ira.