It is 1940 and bombs are falling on London. Watching from her attic window, Charlotte sees enemy planes coming in over the city, and her neighbours’ homes destroyed. Still grieving her beloved brother who never returned from France, Charlotte has moved away from her overbearing family and built a new life for herself. She works as a typist for the Ministry of Information, rents a room on the top floor of Mrs Callaghan’s ramshackle house, and shares gin and confidences with her best friend, Elena. Charlotte comes to fear that there is something – or someone – else at work. Who is the shadow man who seems to be following her? Or is her mind playing tricks on her again?