When Helen Mainyard was eight years old, her father suddenly uprooted the family from their home in Christchurch and settled them in Melbourne. Helen had always believed the move was her father's response to a vicious murder that happened in the city because, as she remembers, the murder affected 'everyone - all the people of Christchurch.' But when she is twenty-one the real reason for the family's departure declares itself and causes Helen to re-visit scenes from her childhood, in particular a dark, brooding homestead called Amberley which, together with its climbing tree, had once held the inquisitive girl in its thrall. The remembered murder and the remembered house - both surreptitiously woven into her psyche, ultimately collide and together lead Helen to unearth a trail of human transgressions.