It is 1938 and the final days of the British Empire. In a Ceylon bungalow lives the Ferguson family: Bella, a precocious eight-year-old; her father Henry, owner of a tea plantation; and her mother, Virginia. After a family confrontation with Bella's governess, Miss White, there is a gunshot. Years later, Bella is back in Scotland, faced once again with her past. In this foray into historical drama by Alexander McCall Smith, will she at last find out what happened between her father and Miss White? And can it be reconciled with an apology?