Harriet's sister Felicity and her husband die in a car crash leaving behind two kids, Carrie and Joel. When Felicity was pregnant with Joel, she made Harriet promise to take her place in the children's life if anything was to happen to her, and she agreed. The time has now come when she has to live up to the promise and she suddenly realizes that it is not as easy as she thought. She is forced to abandon her job and social life in Oxford and move back to her parents' home in Cheshire.
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Carrie the eldest of the two children perceives Harriet as being too harsh on them. Their grandparents love them but they are too old to give them the care they need. She therefore takes upon herself to take care of her brother so that they don't over burden Harriet who is their only hope. Harriet's parents notice how hard she is on the kids while on a tour to their new school and attempts to point this out leaves her devastated. She believes they are being unfair to her; they should at least appreciate the sacrifices she has made to be there. She has never parented before and the thought of disappointing Felicity gives her the urge to try harder each day. The most disturbing thing is the nightmares Joel is experiencing each night and which he cannot talk about.
Harriet's social life is changing and she no longer fits in her friends' company. She always feels obligated to be around home. Carrie is being bullied in school and at some point she decides to sneak out, but falls in the hands of Will, a neighbor who informs Harriet of her whereabouts.
Something else is disturbing Harriet's peace of mind. When going through her sister's mails, she realizes that Felicity was having an affair with another man and was even contemplating leaving her husband. She feels cheated because of the close bond they shared, yet this surpassed her. After carrying out her investigations, she realizes that the man her sister was seeing is Dominic. She is angered more by the fact that he had suggested his brother Miles as a potential suspect when Harriet brought up the topic of her sister's infidelity. Furthermore, it comes to her realization that Carrie could be Dominic's daughter and worse that the accident that claimed her sister's death could have been avoided, but Jeff went ahead and crashed into an oncoming vehicle intentionally after learning of Felicity's intentions of leaving him.
Another shocking revelation to Harriet is that her father is having an affair with a woman called Jennifer. Herself, she is seeing Will but their relationship comes to an end after Will's daughter Suzie dies and Harriet feels he needs some time to handle this unfortunate event. Harriet manages to get her own place where she moves with Carrie and Joel. Miles, Dominic's brother and her childhood friend is a frequent visitor and they seem to be getting along well to the point where the kids suspect that she might get married to him. This is however not the case since Will comes back into the picture and their relationship picks up once again. Harriet is aware that she is more into Will than Miles and is forced to tell the kids the truth when they confront her about her relationships. She has grown fond of the children and she can't imagine life without them.
Best part of story, including ending:
I like the fact that it reflects on the issues affecting families in the society such as infidelity, deception as well as the problems faced by orphaned children in learning institutions.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene is when Harriet confronts Dominic in the presence of Miles about his affair with her sister since at this point he won't be in a position to accuse his brother like he had done before.
Opinion about the main character:
I like the fact that Harriet eventually manages to get to terms with her niece and nephew such that at the end of the story, they are all living contented lives.
