It begins on a winter afternoon, when schoolgirl Nicky Day runs from a gang of bullies. Then her little brother starts the fire. But the nightmare that is engulfing Sue and Terry Day is only beginning . . . A single mother who left a six-year-old on his own while she went clubbing on a Friday night. An absent father with a hot teenaged girlfriend who didn't seem to care who was minding his former family. The police, the neighbours, the friends, the lovers turn accusing eyes on them both. Suspicious voices ask whether Nicky has run away; whether the fire is really an accident. And meanwhile, time is running out for Nicky.