Nick disguises himself as a flower delivery driver to visit the Swann family on the day of Paddy's funeral.

The Swann family receives a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, a stranger claiming to have known Paddy from a London restaurant.

Nick sends Nina a Zippo lighter he claims belonged to Paddy, sparking an email correspondence that turns romantic.

Nick visits Nina's home for the first time, arriving with champagne, while Ash watches him with immediate suspicion.

Ash meets Paddy's former girlfriend Jane Trevally, who tells her that Paddy never carried a Zippo lighter.

Jane shows Ash an online profile of Nick using the alias Justin Warshaw, advertising himself as a life coach.

Nick visits the Swanns unexpectedly and admits to his life-coaching past, answering Ash's probing questions with smooth unconcern.

In a flashback, Nick strangles Tara after she arrives at Amanda's home to expose his double life, forcing Amanda to help hide the body.

Martha searches Alistair's belongings, finds a restaurant receipt from the night Nala was hospitalized, and discovers he has been embezzling.

Ash traces the distinctive pink soap boxes back to a shop called Martha's Garden and learns Nick is married there as Alistair.

Ash and Nina watch Ring camera footage of an unknown woman visiting and Nick leaving with a bag; Ash tells Nina everything.

Ash and Nina visit Martha, who agrees to cooperate in exposing Nick despite the shock of their revelations.

Ash visits Joe Kritner in prison and he identifies Nick as the man who paid him to push Paddy under a train.

Martha lures Nick to the Bangate property, where a crowd of his victims and their families has gathered to confront him.

Nick is arrested by police waiting at Amanda's cottage in Portugal after she steps aside and allows them to take him.

Following Paddy Swann's murder, a mysterious man named Nick Radcliffe inserts himself into the grieving family's life through condolence gifts and carefully crafted charm. While Nick pursues Nina romantically, her daughter Ash grows suspicious and begins investigating his past identities and crimes. Ash enlists the help of Paddy's former girlfriend Jane, who quickly confirms that Nick's first gift was a lie, and together they dig deeper into his history. The investigation ultimately reveals that Nick manipulated a vulnerable man into killing Paddy and has been running the same financial con on multiple women at once. A coalition of Nick's victims lures him into a confrontation, and though he appears to escape into the sea, he is finally arrested in Portugal after the woman he trusted most turns against him.

The headline events of Nick's con on the Swann family.

In a flashback, Nick describes his careful morning routine with wife Tara while secretly embezzling nearly all of her money.

Martha Grey is introduced as a florist in Kent, disappointed when her husband Alistair cancels their first trip away since their daughter's birth.

In a flashback, Nick claims work keeps him from Tara's social gathering, texts Martha to arrange a weekend away, and is later questioned by police about harassing women.

Ash finds a man's gold wedding ring on the floor near Nina's bed; Nina insists it is a keepsake from Nick's deceased fiancée.

In a flashback, Nick knocks on Amanda's door, revealing he is alive after two decades, having previously faked his own death.

Nala becomes dangerously ill while Alistair is away with the only car, forcing Martha to call a friend to drive them to hospital.

Nick takes Nina and Ash to an empty commercial space in Bangate and tries to persuade Nina to open a restaurant there.

Ash and Jane hold a video call with Sarah, a former coaching client who was scammed by Justin and reveals he had a wife named Laura.

Nick tells Martha that his mother has developed dementia and that he will need money and frequent travel to care for her.

In a flashback, Nick uses money borrowed from Amanda's sister to take Martha on a Cotswolds vacation and proposes they move in together.

Ash tracks down Laura Drummond, Nick's former wife, who describes how he manipulated her and vanished, leaving her buried in debt.

Martha uses a hidden tracking device to follow Alistair's movements across Kent and realizes he must be having an affair with Nina Swann.

In a flashback, Nick takes Nina on their first date and learns she is deeply worried about Ash's mental health and independence.

Ash and Jane visit Bar Amelie and learn that Nick harassed the wine bar's owners relentlessly until the co-owner Luke Berner died by suicide.

A letter from Nick arrives after the confrontation, and Ash realizes it was written in the same hand as letters she thought came from Ritchie Lloyd.

While Nick courts Nina, two parallel storylines reveal the full scope of his manipulation: in the present, Martha's marriage to Alistair slowly deteriorates as she uncovers lie after lie, and in flashback, Nick's history of conning women across multiple identities comes into focus. Ash's investigation steadily widens as she connects with a chain of women who each hold a piece of Nick's story, from a scammed life-coaching client to Nick's abandoned former wife Laura. Martha's own quiet detective work eventually leads her to Nina Swann's front door, unknowingly setting the final trap into motion. A haunting letter Nick sends after the beach confrontation provides the story's last revelation, confirming that his manipulation of the Swann family began far earlier than anyone realized.

The secondary storylines that expose Nick's full pattern of deceit.

Ash notices that her boss Marcelline owns a pink box identical to the one Nick sent with the Zippo lighter.

Martha searches the doctor's bag Alistair claims he inherited from his father and nearly finds a hidden second phone before he returns.

In a flashback, Tara tells Nick to leave their home after his prolonged absence; he manages to talk her into waiting one more week.

Ash searches Nick's jacket pockets while he visits and finds a pacifier clip, suggesting he has a young baby at home.

Nick shows Martha the same Bangate property he failed to sell to Nina and convinces her to take out a large loan to open a florist shop.

In a flashback, Nick is cut out of a Mayfair wine bar deal by his business partner, then pressures Amanda into borrowing money from her sister.

In a flashback, Nick sneaks into Tara's house and finds Emma there; Emma reveals she was the one who tipped off police about his harassment.

Ash opens Nick's Christmas gift and recognizes that the pink soap box is identical to the one the Zippo lighter arrived in.

In a flashback, Nick takes Martha to Paddy's Whitstable restaurant, recognizes Paddy as someone who once condescended to him, and begins obsessively researching the Swann family.

In a flashback, Nick stalks Ash in London and overhears her telling friends about her secret crush on her married boss Ritchie Lloyd.

Ash meets Tara's daughter Emma, who insists that finding the woman Nick lived with in Tooting holds the key to solving Tara's murder.

Ash and Jane visit Tooting and learn from Amanda's son Sam that his mother vanished from the address four years ago.

Nick violently forces elderly Jesse to hand over twenty thousand pounds in cash and then flees her home.

Jesse goes to the police to report Nick's theft and assault, providing Ring doorbell footage that shows his face.

At Bangate, Nick breaks free from the assembled crowd of victims, runs into the sea, and disappears beneath the waves.

Ash's investigation begins with small, nagging details — an identical pink box, a suspicious pacifier clip — that slowly accumulate into a damning picture of Nick's secret life. In parallel flashbacks, the reader watches Nick's past crimes unfold: his obsessive hatred of Paddy Swann, his stalking of Ash in London, and the moment he first crossed from con artist into murderer. Martha's quiet courage in maintaining the pretense of a loving marriage gives the women the leverage they need to spring their trap. The confrontation at Bangate sees Nick apparently escape into the sea, but the final revelation belongs to Amanda, whose loyalty Nick fatally misjudged, and she ensures he faces justice at last.