Merrin McKenzie returns to St Ives after a tragedy, seeking comfort in her hometown during the festive season. Stepping back from her career as a solicitor, she agrees to clean holiday cottages for friends, anticipating dirty laundry and sandy floors. Definitely not a dead body tucked up in one of the guest beds. The police are unable to identify the young man and are baffled by his mysterious death. As coincidences pile up, Merrin suspects something darker lies beneath the surface of this charming seaside town. Despite Inspector Louis Peppiatt's scepticism of her theories, she uncovers a sinister side to the Cornish coastline as the case unfolds.