When a young writer accepts a job at a university in the remote countryside it’s meant to be a fresh start away from the big city and the scene of a violent assault she’s desperate to forget. But despite the distractions of a new life and single motherhood her nerves continue to jangle. To make matters worse a vicious debate about violence against women inflames the tensions and mounting rivalries in her creative writing group. When a troubled student starts sending in chapters from his novel that blur the lines between fiction and reality the professor recognises herself as the main character in his book - and he has written her a horrific fate.