While taking an early morning walk along a foggy beach, reclusive writer Cora encounters a young girl. She looks damp, down on her luck, and utterly dejected, and Cora soon deduces that she must be a runaway.
Despite her coaxing, Cora is able to learn very little about the girl or her circumstances. She doesn’t know why the girl ran away from home, or even what her name is, but this doesn’t dissuade her.
Cora soon offers the girl a place to stay, and the girl — being homeless — has no option but to accept.
The girl moves in with Cora, and sleeps in her dingy guest bedroom with outdated furniture and a thin, mean bed. Cora buys the girl new clothes, plies her with mystery novels, all the while trying to discern her true identity.
What in the world happened to her?
