Will could never have predicted how much his life would change when he is knocked from his bicycle by a hit-and-run driver whilst returning home from the London clinic where he works as a psychotherapist. His wife, Lara, takes him to an A&E, where he is diagnosed with concussion. Having cancelled upcoming client appointments, he spends much of the following week in fitful sleep whilst Lara goes out to work.
When he returns to his practice, something is very weird and very wrong. It seems that Will – or a form of Will – held the sessions with his regular clients whilst he was at home asleep. This Will gave out some radical and shocking therapy that was completely out of character for him. What’s more, Will finds himself referring to events in his clients’ histories of which they themselves have no memory. The sessions go badly. Will’s one new client is Guy, who claims to be regularly disturbed in his flat by a sister who has been dead for five years. She simply stands at the foot of his bed in a red sweater and white jeans. Walking home that night, Will passes the London Eye. From one of the gondolas, a young woman smiles at him and takes his picture. She wears a red sweater and white jeans.
When Will takes Lara to a restaurant, the same woman appears at the next table and, to Lara’s consternation smiles at Will. Later, she appears at his studio, having made an appointment. She says her name is Emma, that she is indeed Guy’s sister and is dead. She wants Will to be her therapist. He refuses, telling her to see a doctor. But, dead or not, Emma proves to be not the sort of girl to say no to. Encounters with her simply become more frequent and more bizarre. What’s more, as they start to take a toll on Will’s livelihood, his marriage and even his sense of self, it seems that Emma knows a
lot more about his shadowed past than she should.