Alice and Howard Goodwin have recently moved to rural Wisconsin and are regarded with suspicion by most of their neighbors. The couple does form a friendship, however, with Theresa and Dan Collins. Both couples often take turns babysitting for one another. Tragedy occurs one day when Alice, momentarily distracted, discovers that Theresa's daughter has drowned in a pond near her house. Alice is grief stricken and then further horrified when a neighborhood boy accuses her of sexual abuse. Imprisoned, her husband unable to make bail, Alice is left to face up to all of her grief and a court trial, while her husband and Theresa must find their own peace.