The story happens in a small coastal town in Australia called Evelyn Bay. Fifteen years ago, there was a terrible storm. Three teenage boys - Kieran, his brother Finn, and their friend Toby got trapped in sea caves. Kieran survived, but Finn and Toby died trying to save him.
Now Kieran is an adult. He comes back to the town with his girlfriend Mia and their baby for a memorial service. Everyone in town blames him for his brother's death. His own mother, Verity, is especially cruel to him. She acts like he killed his brother on purpose. His father Brian has dementia and is getting confused and lost.
While Kieran is visiting, a woman named Bronte is found murdered on the beach. Bronte was an outsider who came to town to investigate another mystery - a local girl named Gabby who disappeared twelve years ago and was never found.
The police start investigating Bronte's murder. At first, they think maybe Brian killed her because he was seen wandering around at night with sand on his shoes. But as the story goes on, we learn the truth about both mysteries.
Twelve years ago, Gabby was with some friends including a guy named Sean. Sean tried to kiss Gabby in the caves, but she said no. Instead of accepting this, Sean got angry and ran away, leaving Gabby alone in the dangerous caves during bad weather. She got lost and drowned.
Sean never told anyone what really happened. He let everyone think Gabby just had an accident. Years later, Bronte came to town and started investigating. She found evidence that Sean had been with Gabby when she died. So Sean killed Bronte to keep his secret safe.
Sean even tried to make it look like Brian (who has dementia) was the killer. But eventually the truth comes out. Sean is arrested, and they find Gabby's body in the caves.
One of the most heartbreaking part was when Trish, Gabby's mother, who has been living with not knowing what happened to her daughter for twelve years. When they finally find Gabby's body and get answers, it's both a relief and devastating. She's been in limbo all this time, and you realize how much that uncertainty has tortured her.
The way Bronte figured things out was actually pretty clever. She found that Gabby had carved her name in the cave wall, which showed she was definitely there when she died. Bronte also took photos that revealed important clues, and Sean had to delete images from her camera to try to cover his tracks. There's also a character named George Barlin, a local writer, who becomes a suspect for a while.
Another frustrating thing was Liam, who is Toby's son. He gets suspected of killing Bronte at first, which adds to the tension. It's heartbreaking because this kid has already lost his father, and now he's being blamed for murder.
The show also goes deeper into how the original storm night unfolded. There are questions about how Olivia managed to alert Finn and Toby during the storm, and flashbacks that show more about what everyone was really doing that night. Some of these details don't always make perfect sense, which can be annoying.
I found this show really sad but compelling. The annoying thing was how cruel Kieran's mother is to him. She blames him for surviving when his brother died, which is just horrible. No parent should treat their child that way, especially when it was just a tragic accident.
The show moves very slowly, especially in the first few episodes. It's more about the characters' emotions and the town's atmosphere than action or quick plot twists. The setting in Tasmania is beautiful but also feels threatening - those caves and cliffs look dangerous.
Charlie Vickers, who plays Kieran, does a good job showing how guilty and broken his character feels. You can see in his face how much he's suffered. His father Brian, played by Damien Garvey, is also really well done. The way he shows dementia feels real and heartbreaking.
Some parts frustrated me. There's a character named Olivia who knew more about what happened to Gabby but stayed quiet for years. That made me angry - she could have helped find the truth sooner. Kieran's girlfriend Mia also gets jealous and suspicious in ways that sometimes felt over the top.
Even though it's slow and sometimes frustrating, the show does something important. It shows how one terrible event can damage a whole community for years. It's about guilt, blame, and how families can be torn apart by tragedy.
The mystery itself isn't that surprising - you can kind of guess what happened. But that's not really the point. The point is watching how these characters deal with loss and trauma. It's more like a sad family drama than a typical crime show.
The ending doesn't fix everything magically. Sean gets caught, but the families are still broken. Kieran gets some peace knowing he wasn't responsible for Gabby's death too, but his relationship with his mother is still damaged. That felt realistic to me.
The show is based on a book by Jane Harper, though it changes some things from the original story, this adaptation expands several character arcs and emphasizes emotional tension more than the novel, which is amazing because usually, it is the other way around.
Watch on Netflix