In 1968, Ruth is haunted by the memory of the death of her young daughter Alice. In 1987, parents Helen and Eddie are increasingly worried about their daughter Amy, who claims to have an imaginary friend called Alice. In 2010, Mark and his pregnant girlfriend Nisha move in. While stripping wallpaper, Nisha finds a photograph of a young girl - just before she falls off a ladder and breaks her ankle.

In 1968, Ruth and Paul fight after discovering they are unlikely to have any more children, while in 1987 Eddie unearths intriguing details about Alice and an increasingly isolated Scott has a seizure. In 2010 Ruth is shocked when she hears Nisha intends to name her baby Alice.