Helen is a 17-year-old girl with a complex and troubled past who has lived in care since she was an infant. She is on the threshold of her 18th birthday, which signals the end of her care order, and she awaits this new beginning full of anticipation and anxiety, knowing that her entry into adulthood is something she must ultimately undertake alone. Given everything that has happened to her in her life, being left alone is Helen's greatest fear, and her greatest challenge to overcome.
At the same time, and in the same city, there is a missing girl called Joy. A fingertip search led by the police is being carried out in a local woods following the discovery, the day before, of a jacket and personal effects belonging to Joy who has been missing for some time. Until now, Joy's parents have been clinging to the belief that her disappearance was nothing more than a teenage girl's cry for help, and they have lived in hope that one day soon she will return home safely to them. Although not hopeless, the situation following this new development looks somewhat more ominous.
A police reconstruction is organised that will retrace Joy's last known movements, to be screened on national television in the hope that it will provide valuable clues as to what happened to Joy in the twenty-four hours leading up to her disappearance. Helen is chosen to play the part of the missing girl in this reconstruction and both the police, and especially Joy's parents, agree that Helen is the perfect choice for the role. But the parents sense that there is something uncanny about Helen's resemblance to their daughter and are slightly unnerved by the similarity. Somehow their encounter with Helen makes them even more vulnerable and it is clear that they might actually need her help to get them through this very difficult time in their life. What they do not know is that Helen also needs their help.
For Helen, the role of stand-in represents an important opportunity, and she senses that to inhabit someone else's life, if only temporarily, could help her with her own life. Joy, who is the same age as her, had many of the things she never had: a secure home; loving parents; success at school; popularity amongst her peers; and a steady boyfriend. Gradually Helen begins to immerse herself into the role, visiting the people and places that Joy knew; quietly and carefully insinuating her way into the lost girl's life. But is Helen trying to find out what happened to Joy that day, or is she searching for her own identity?
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