Annie Colville can see dead people and for some reason they are all wearing chocolate brown. They come to her to tell of the lost key behind the sofa, the Crown Derby coffee sets, the clematis that needs a good prune. Since she was a child Annie has been able to see and speak to the dead. But when her husband disappears suddenly he does not come to visit her. So is Evan still alive? During her long wait to discover what happened to Evan Bees, Annie searches through her mother's vast collection of lovers for the other missing man in her life, and struggles with the questions her gifts ask of her. Who is the mysterious girl who sits by the lake at the Country Park? What happened to the lost woman whose sister has never stopped searching for her? And why are so many of the dead called Jim?