When Helen Tudor-Fisk's life falls apart, she takes a job in a small suburban firm specialising in wills and probate assuming that, because the clients are dead she won't have to deal with people.

Matteo is pressured into the family business when he fails his exams. Out for his 18th birthday, he struggles to choose between his family responsibilities and his adolescent friendships, culminating in an act of violence.

Set in late 1960's Australia, Henry and his father George are two different kinds of men, yet the pressures of an overbearing father divert both their futures.

When Helen Tudor-Fisk's life falls apart, she takes a job in a small suburban firm specialising in wills and probate assuming that, because the clients are dead she won't have to deal with people.