Dee Dee, loving mother, grieving widow and occasional model, walks away from home with a kiss in the air before disappearing around the corner. And she doesn't come home that night. Or the next... Maggie, her self-absorbed teenage daughter, refuses to accept that her mother is no longer with us - because nobody loses both parents in just two years, do they? Forced to look after her household and her annoying little brother, Maggie rejects any help from Dee's chaotic, yet small, circle of friends, afraid that the news will reach the tabloids and the police. However, she eventually finds an unexpected ally in Lobo, an older boy with boxer's fists who lives on the other side of Portobello, an unfamiliar world of dark, labyrinthine shops, dusty antique dealers, warmth and lawlessness, far from the big white villas. A place where she feels safe. As dangerous forces close in, Maggie must protect her brother, no matter the cost. But time is running out.