妮娜•蘭德裏的生日意外迭齣，等待她的並不全是驚喜……她本想今天和新男友一起，帶著她的兩個孩子去度假，逃離桑德陵島鼕日裏的蕭條。無奈一路上意外層齣不窮，計劃一再被打亂。最要命的是，十五歲的女兒查莉夜齣未歸……時間一分一秒地流逝，妮娜的不安由擔憂升級為恐慌，最可怕的噩夢降臨到瞭一位母親的頭上。查莉離傢齣走瞭嗎？還是發生瞭可怕的意外？為什麼大傢對她的失蹤都如此漠不關心？小島黑夜降臨，一連串若隱若現的謎團讓妮娜的疑慮變成深信：現在的問題已不僅僅是能否和女兒離開桑德陵島去過聖誕節，而是她們究竟能不能活著離開這裏。

Nina Landry has given up city life for the isolated community of Sandling Island, lying off the bleak east coast of England. At night the wind howls. Sometimes they are cut off by the incoming tide. For Nina though it is home. It is safe. But when Nina's teenage daughter Charlie fails to return from a sleepover on the day they're due to go on holiday, the island becomes a different place altogether. A place of secrets and suspicions. Where no one ndash; friends, neighbours or the police ndash; believes Nina's instinctive fear that her daughter is in terrible danger. Alone, she undergoes a frantic search for Charlie. And as day turns to night, she begins to doubt not just whether they'll leave the island for their holiday ndash; but whether they will ever leave it again.