Edgar Mason, a successful photographer and collector of junk, finds by chance, an old locked suitcase. He sees his wife's maiden name stencilled on the lid, and decides to buy it. He and his wife Helena investigate the contents of the suitcase and discover the history of a young school girl who grew up to be Helena's mysterious great aunt Esme. The case reveals a romance that no one in the family knew of. Esme had disappeared without trace more than forty years ago, was she the femme fatale that family gossips talk about, or was she an innocent in love?