It is August 1900 and ten-year-old Maddy Moon is relishing the prospect of a long summer in Scarborough stretching out ahead of her.
While watching the Pierrot shows on the beach, she meets and befriends another young girl, Jessie, who is holidaying in Scarborough for the summer. Maddy is enjoying having someone to show around, relieved that the 'family business', Isaac Moon & Son, Undertakers, has not put Jessie off. But all is not well in the Moon household. Stern-faced Bella Randall, assistant to the Moon's family business, has a dark past and a mysterious hold over Maddy's father. Maddy distrusts the woman and it isn't long before her summer of ice-creams and sunshine is followed by heartache and loss. Long buried secrets threaten to ruin the Moon family and only time will tell if they can escape the trappings of the past and move towards a rosier future.