Steph has spent decades building a family with her husband, Mal, and putting their family first. She is the glue that holds them all together, and she has convinced herself that she’s been happy...most of the time. But as she stands at her birthday party watching her husband talking about a wonderful marriage she doesn’t fully recognise, the doubts that she has been pushing down for so long begin to grow.

Lara's life looks perfect on the surface. Gorgeous doting husband Massimo, sweet little son Sandro and the perfect home. Lara knows something about Massimo. Something she can't tell anyone else or everything Massimo has worked so hard for will be destroyed: his job, their reputation, their son. This secret is keeping Lara a prisoner in her marriage. Maggie is married to Massimo's brother Nico. She knows all of Nico's darkest secrets - or so she thinks. The one day she discovers a letter in the attic....

When Lydia was a teenager, she made a decision that ruined her family's life. They've spent the last 30 years living with the consequences and doing their best to pretend it never happened. Lydia's husband, the gorgeous and reliable Mark, and her two teenage children know nothing about that summer back in 1982. And that's the way Lydia wants it to stay. The opportunity to come clean is long gone, and now it's not the lie that matters; it's the betrayal of hiding the truth for so long.

Susie did something that she knows she will always regret: giving her baby son up for adoption, to keep her infidelity secret from her family. Louise, Susie's daughter, feels the effects of that decision echoing down through the years - her mother has always been difficult, too strict with her but not strict enough with her sister, Grace, who is wild and out of control. And Danny, Susie's husband, adores her but has always sensed something wrong at the heart of their marriage.

What if the perfect life you envy was rotten to the core? Three brand-new friends. Three very different families. Way too many secrets. Gisela, Sally and Kate become close when they move into the same new housing estate. But behind their shiny front doors, each has something to hide. Three lives collide in this gripping story about friendship, motherhood and marriage and the façade of perfection people present to the world.