Partnering his wife in a mixed doubles final at his local tennis club, college lecturer, Paul, misses an easy smash on set point, one that subsequently marks the end of his marriage. Now single, he blows the divorce settlement on an expensive beach hut located on the Suffolk coast, an area where he spent many happy summer holidays as a child. Hoping to use his new acquisition as a base camp retreat to heal his ravaged life, a blisteringly hot Easter bank holiday turns out to be far more than the beach-hut-revamp trip he first envisages.

John Alfred Dennett is a middle-aged man whose current dream is for his son to become a professional footballer. He also has a recurring nightmare, one caused by the aftermath of events from long ago. As both of John’s parents begin to regress because of their dementia, he starts reliving the times when death stalked his family and fearing the day history might repeat itself