While recovering from illness, Scarlett Green discovers a murder took place at a house in Tooting, where she once lived. Although the murder was thirty years earlier, she remembers her life there in vivid detail, and shares her information with the police. On returning to work she learns she is to be made redundant. She decides, for her own satisfaction, to see what she can find out about the murder. But her investigation is not without its dangers, including a brick thrown through her window and a car coming towards her at speed. In addition, two men come into her life; the suave, handsome detective inspector who is leading the investigation, and an inept private detective, hired by the murder victim's parents. As she thinks back to her late teens, Scarlett remembers friendship, her first job, bereavement and the bittersweet nature of her first love. Now the past impinges on the present and she fears for her safety and that of those closest to her.