The film is based on the 1999 novel of the same name by American female writer Laura Kasischke. The story is set in the 1980s, in a middle-class suburban family in the United States. When Kate, played by Woodley, was 17 years old, her beautiful, mysterious mother (played by Eva Green), who was also a perfect housewife, suddenly disappeared. For Kate, who grew up in a repressive family environment, her mother's disappearance was almost a kind of "relief" and comfort. But as time went on, she gradually discovered the impact of this incident on herself. When she returned home during the college holiday, she suddenly discovered the truth about her mother's departure and realized that all the clues were right in front of her at the time, but she had never noticed them.