When their estranged father, Stan, dies in unexpected circumstances, sisters Phil, Beth, Nita and Alice are reunited for the first time in 20 years.
Burdened by their own secrets, which they desperately try to hide, the four are also torn between a desire to uncover the truth behind a cataclysmic event that shattered their family 20 years before, and a need to keep it hidden.
A stranger since the events of that night, prodigal daughter Phil returns to Manchester for her father's funeral and finds her childhood home unchanged, but her family virtually unrecognisable.
Eldest sister Nita is prepared to go to any lengths to get what she wants. She runs her business, family and home with ruthless efficiency, but her confident exterior belies a fragility born of the fear that she is second best in her husband, Nash's, eyes. Nash and Phil are ex-lovers and, on Phil's return, he's eager to pick up where they left off.
Loud, foul-mouthed Beth attempts to terrorise everyone – from her fellow football hooligans to her long-suffering teenage sons. Tormented by several guilty secrets, she drinks to dull her pain, only causing her behaviour to spiral out of control.
Alice, meanwhile, is tormented by persistent, sinister nightmares since the fateful night, and has barely aged or matured. However, it is she who, inadvertently, holds the key to the entire mystery.
The sisters also have a reclusive brother, Dennis, who shares his life with strange companions. However, his peculiar coping strategies belie an even deeper dysfunction.
Forced to re-examine their actions, motives and even their memories, the siblings grapple with old rivalries and new desires in this vibrant, witty and, at times, darkly comic rollercoaster ride.
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