Mirella and Howard Cook-Goldman have it all—two beautiful children, the home of their dreams, successful careers, even a golden retriever. The only thing they lack is reliable childcare. After weeks of searching and interviewing, they are sent Randi Gill by a respected child-care placement agency and all their problems are solved. Randi is the nanny they always wanted. She sews, cooks, cleans, and quickly bonds with the children. In fact, she’s almost too perfect. As Randi’s attachment to the children grows, Mirella and Howard begin to have misgivings about her and tension builds in their once happy home.

A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, "Nell" sets out to trace her real identity.