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Rachel Watson is an alcoholic who recently got divorced and lost her job. She rides the train to London every day, where she can see her old house from the window of the train. Rachel watches a young couple living next door at number 15 Blenheim Road because they seem like perfect people with their beautiful garden and lovely dog, which makes Rachel incredibly jealous. One morning, however, she sees something shocking: The woman in that house was kissing another man on her terrace! This made Rachel both angry that someone could be so unfaithful yet curious about what might be happening beneath this seemingly perfect life.

The novel alternates between Rachel’s narration and that of Megan Hipwell, who goes missing in the summer of 2013. It also includes Tom Watson’s wife Anna and Megan’s therapist Dr. Kamal Abdic. The story is told over a period of two years, starting with Megan in 2012 and ending with her disappearance at the end of the summer in 2014. During this time she has marital problems with her husband Scott, an affair with Tom Watson (who was married to another woman), as well as therapy sessions led by Dr. Abdic.

Megan, who works as a nanny for Anna and Tom’s baby, quits her job in the summer of 2012. She is uncomfortable with the responsibility of caring for a child each day and increasingly nervous that Anna will discover her affair with Tom. Megan struggles to parse out her romantic feelings for both Tom and Scott—and all the while old traumas create restlessness within her. During this time she confides in Dr. Abdic about painful past experiences—notably about a relationship during her teen years with Mac (a friend of Ben’s), and their child Libby (whom they lost). Megan gradually develops romantic feelings toward Dr. Abdic, but when she discovers that she is pregnant and realizes that the baby could be either Scott’s or Tom’s, Megan asks him for advice on what to do next. He assures Megan that she has come far enough in life to be a good mother herself now; so he tells Megan not to have an abortion but rather raise the child by herself if it turns out not to be Scott’s baby after all; which gives Megen confidence in his faith in her ability as a mother. Emboldened by his belief in her capability as a parent, Megen reaches out to tell Tom about the pregnancy/baby only find he encourages getting an abortion instead because he doesn’t want children at this point in his life right now; which incenses Megen into screaming at him threateningly saying “I’ll make you pay” before picking up rock from ground floor steps where they were standing & bludgeoning him over head killing him instantly…

In 2013, Rachel wakes up on Sunday morning to notice that she’s covered in cuts and bruises. She can’t remember what happened the night before except for going to Blenheim Road and having a fight with Tom and Anna. When Rachel reads about Megan Hipwell’s disappearance, she is shocked because it seems like something she had witnessed because of her presence at Witney train station. Since alcohol has been negatively affecting her life, Rachel decides to stop drinking so much as an attempt to figure out what exactly happened on the night when Megan disappeared. In order to do this, she goes back to see where it all took place—the underpass beneath the train station. While there, Rachel experiences flashbacks from that night which are extremely vivid in terms of pain and fear.

When Rachel returns home, she finds that the police and a detective by the name of Gaskill are waiting for her. Tom and Anna have told them that Rachel was in Witney the night of Megan’s disappearance—and that Rachel recently snuck into their house, carrying Evie off into the garden. Rachel insists she would never harm Tom, Anna, or Evie, and that she doesn’t recall seeing Megan on Saturday. The police urge Rachel to stay away from Blenheim Road. Feeling guilty, Rachel goes to the police station the following day to inform Gaskill and another detective about Megan’s affair with Scott. During an interview with two detectives (Gaskill & Riley), they learn that Megan worked as a nanny for Tom and Anna before moving into Blenheim Road. Afterward, she gets in touch with Scott via email after finding out about his relationship with Megan because she feels like he needs to know what happened between them while they were dating. When one of those detectives calls her back in for questioning again, she becomes drunk during a party at work again (breaking her sobriety) which leads to more emails being sent from her account. She is surprised when Scott replies back wanting to meet up so they can discuss what happened between him and Megan when they were dating