It is 1940 and Britain is evacuating its children. Ted Johns, son of the groundskeeper at the manor house in Goonzoyle, finds himself in steerage abroad the SS City of Benares. Also aboard is the heir to Goonzoyle, Jonathan Hicks. When the ship is torpedoed the two boys find themselves thrown together but only one of them survives. In 2003, Jessica Mann researches her new book, the story of the children evacuated from Britain during WWII. In response to her request for information about survivors of the disaster, she is contacted by Ted Johns' sister. As Jessica digs deeper, she realizes that the events of that fateful night are haunting the present, and when human bones are found in the grounds of Goonzoyle, the past and present collide.