Upon entering Gwen’s house, Connie finds five of Paul’s suitcases on the landing. Gwen is alone and explains that she sent Mary home and has invited Paul to stay with her. Connie confronts Paul, who is painting a skirting board and claims he is simply between homes. The argument escalates, and Gwen, confused and believing Paul is her late husband Bill, intervenes. She doesn’t recognize Connie as her daughter and angrily orders her to leave the house. Defeated, Connie departs, but not before secretly taking Gwen’s will from a file box.

Ten days later, Connie feigns acceptance of Paul’s presence in order to stay close to Gwen. One day, Connie arrives to find that Paul has changed the locks and installed a video doorbell, effectively locking her out. Gwen lets her in, explaining Paul insisted on the new security measures due to a supposed string of local burglaries targeting pensioners. Paul comes out of the bathroom, clad only in a towel, and condescendingly informs Connie that he and Gwen are going out. Connie insists on waiting for their return. 

Once alone, she searches the house and discovers that Paul’s suitcases are empty. His clothes now fill Gwen’s wardrobe, while Gwen’s have been stuffed into trash bags. On Gwen’s new phone, Connie finds text messages that reveal their secret romantic relationship. Paul has told Gwen to hide their romance from Connie. Realizing Paul left this evidence out for her to find, Connie understands that he is taunting her.

Sarah Coggins, a social worker, meets with Connie to discuss her investigation into Gwen’s welfare. Sarah recounts an unannounced visit she made to Gwen’s house, during which Gwen appeared happy and admitted she was “courting” Paul. Though Gwen was confused—initially forgetting she had a daughter—Sarah explains to a distraught Connie that there is no legal basis for social services to intervene. Gwen seems well-cared for and, despite her dementia, is deemed capable of making her own decisions. Furthermore, Paul showed Sarah his bank balance of more than £460,000 to prove he is not financially exploiting Gwen. Sarah admits her suspicions were raised when she overheard Gwen ask Paul, “Was I alright?” as she left (94), but this was not enough to take action. She regretfully tells Connie that her hands are tied.

Hoping to find an ally, Connie goes to Mary’s house to warn her about Paul. However, Mary reveals that Paul has already spoken to her, spinning a story about the social services visit and portraying Connie as the villain. He claimed Connie sedated Gwen with sleeping pills and showing Mary a video of Connie shouting at Gwen after she had fallen. He also fabricated claims that Connie was stealing Gwen’s money for massages, expensive groceries, and a car in Italy. Realizing that Paul has successfully turned the community against her, Connie leaves in despair. Shortly after, she discovers that Paul has cut off her access to Gwen’s bank accounts.

Plagued by nightmares about Paul, Connie worries about her impending trip to Italy, especially as her finances have dwindled due to dog-walking clients cancelling after hearing Mary’s gossip against her. One night, Mary frantically summons Connie, revealing that an ambulance is at Gwen’s house. Connie rushes over to find Gwen in the midst of a psychotic episode, shouting abuse at the paramedics. 

Paul is present, acting calm and in control despite having fresh scratches and a bite mark on his arm. He downplays the severity of the situation and resists the paramedics’ suggestion to take Gwen to a hospital. After being sedated, Gwen mistakes Paul for Bill again, and calls Connie “Meredith.” Asserting his authority, Paul forces Connie to leave.

On the day she is scheduled to leave for Italy, Connie forces her way into the house to say goodbye to Gwen. She is horrified to discover that Paul has installed a padlock on the outside of Gwen’s bedroom door, which he claims is to prevent her from wandering at night and hurting herself. He has also applied one-way reflective film to the house’s windows, sealing it off from outside view. Connie shares a brief, lucid moment with Gwen, who recognizes and comforts her. As Gwen drifts back to sleep, she asks Connie to tell someone named “Meredith” that she has “Tom.” Before leaving, Connie pleads with Paul to be kind to her mother, but his insincere smile only deepens her dread.

Six weeks have passed. Reverend Eddie Edwards receives a call from Joe Lawson of the local Neighborhood Watch, informing him that Connie has returned from Italy. Eddie hurries to intercept Connie as she heads toward Gwen’s house. He gently informs her that Gwen died about a fortnight after she left, from what was deemed an accidental fall down the stairs in which she hit her head on the radiator. Connie’s initial shock quickly turns to anger. Ignoring Eddie’s pleas to slow down, she runs to the house, where she is confronted by a “For Sale” sign hammered into the front lawn.

Connie is stunned by the “For Sale” sign. Reverend Eddie explains that Paul, who Gwen added to the property deeds as a gift, is legally selling the house. A furious Connie tries to break in but is thwarted by the new locks. As neighbors gather, she accuses them of failing to protect Gwen and falling for Paul’s lies. She learns the funeral already took place three weeks ago in Oxfordshire and that Gwen was buried in an unmarked grave, against her wishes and away from Bill. Overcome with rage, Connie rips the “For Sale” sign out of the ground and smashes it on the driveway. As she unleashes her fury on the neighbors, Reverend Eddie delivers the final, destructive news: Paul’s actions were all legal because he and Gwen had gotten married.

Mary’s husband Joe drives Connie to several appointments, all of which confirm her powerless position. A Citizens Advice Bureau representative explains that the will she has counts for nothing; in English law, Gwen’s spouse automatically receives everything, making Paul the sole heir to her estate. The estate agent confirms that the sale is legal because Paul was on the property deeds. 

Finally, Connie meets with Jan Hudson, the registrar who officiated the wedding. Jan spoke to both parties separately beforehand and confirms Gwen seemed lucid and happy, insisting she was not being coerced. However, Jan recalls that during the ceremony, Gwen briefly called Paul by the name “Bill,” confirming Connie’s suspicion that Gwen believed she was remarrying her deceased husband.

After a long journey involving five different buses, Connie arrives at the desolate, poorly maintained cemetery where Gwen is buried. She locates the unmarked grave, a fresh mound of earth, and places a bouquet of her mother’s favorite yellow roses upon it. Consumed by grief and anger, Connie imagines Paul watching Gwen die at the bottom of the stairs. She kneels by the grave, overwhelmed by the feeling that Paul has robbed her of everything. Vowing that he will not win, she promises to one day expose him and move Gwen’s remains to the family plot where she belongs.

Mary watches from her window as Connie, looking broken and disheveled, walks by. She feels guilty for believing Paul’s lies and siding against Connie. She recalls Joe spotting Paul and another man—older than Paul and wearing a tartan flat cap—clearing out Gwen’s furniture shortly after she died. While Mary now sees Paul as heartless and devious, she finds it hard to believe he is a murderer. 

She notes that the neighbors have been trying to support Connie, but Connie remains distant. Mary also harbors suspicions about Connie’s two-month absence in Italy, questioning why she was completely unreachable when everyone tried to contact her about Gwen’s death. She finds Connie’s explanation of providing the wrong phone number unconvincing, but Joe has insisted she give Connie the benefit of the doubt.

Connie is drawn to Gwen’s house, which remains on the market. One day, she finds the back door unlocked and ventures inside. The house has been stripped of all personal effects, creating a sterile, unfamiliar environment. At the bottom of the stairs, the radiator has been freshly painted and the carpet replaced, erasing any trace of Gwen’s fall. Upstairs, Connie notes the padlock on the bedroom door is gone, with the screw holes neatly filled. As she stands in the empty room, she is startled by a voice directly behind her. Paul says, “Welcome home, Connie” (321).

Connie confronts Paul, now sophisticated and expensively dressed, having clearly used Gwen’s money to reinvent himself. He coldly delivers a rehearsed account of Gwen’s “accident,” claiming she fell while he slept in a spare room with earplugs. He taunts Connie, revealing that the clothes and toiletries she had kept at Gwen’s house were thrown out during a “clear-out” because he assumed they were junk. 

The confrontation escalates as Paul reveals he knows Connie’s secret. He scoffs at her story about a work trip to Italy, stating that she was actually serving a sentence in a women’s prison in Kent for fraud—the real reason no one could reach her to inform her of Gwen’s death.

Paul delivers his final blow, revealing that he knows Connie is not Gwen’s daughter. He explains that Gwen told him Bill caught mumps a couple of years after they married, which left him sterile. According to Paul, Gwen was aware of Connie’s deception but played along because she thought Connie was lonely, and she enjoyed her company. He tells Connie he has searched for official records and found no evidence of a “Connie Wright” with her birthdate, but he did find records for a “Rachel Evans”—the only benefactor of Gwen’s will and the recipient of a Carer’s Allowance for Gwen. He declares that they are both the same kind of predator, but he simply beat her to the prize. His words leave Connie exposed and defeated.