Nearing forty, Emma is the woman who has everything - a healthy bank account, a successful husband, rich friends, a luxurious villa and two dogs. She has been rich and spoilt for as long as she can remember. But there is something else... She also has a disturbing and recurrent nightmare which she cannot shake off:

She is standing in front of a big French window in her threadbare dressing gown. The floor is cold beneath her bare feet. She places her palms on the cold glass and looks outside. There is a huge oak tree straight ahead in the yard. Its branches, laden with leaves all the colours of autumn, are shivering in the wind. The sound they make seems like a low melancholy whisper. As if trying to listen she brings her face closer until her nose meets the cool glass. She does not move. She closes her eyes and a lonely tear slides down her cheek. Then she reopens her eyes and looks back at the old oak tree. This time there is someone standing next to it. It's a girl of three looking exactly as she did when she was that age. For one brief moment she even thinks it's her, although in her heart of hearts she knows it cannot be. Although there is no proof she is certain that it is not her. She just knows...

Emma cannot decipher this dream, but once she accepts it as part of her life, events unfold in quick succession. The secret behind the nightmare, once revealed, turns her life inside out and brings out her better self.

This book is about life, female friendship, secrets and hope. It follows the fates of several women and Emma's personal odyssey of transformation.