Magda recalls living in her car, parked near the Downs in South West England, with her new boyfriend Ethan, a recovering alcoholic. Despite her efforts to keep him sober, Ethan relapses. Magda discovers that he's also a drug addict, hooked on crack cocaine, and a narcissist skilled at coercive control. His abuse of Magda intensifies through several failed rehabs and subsequent relapses.

A respite period in a Tibetan Buddhist community turns sour when Magda realises that the guru's abusive outbursts are sickeningly familiar. Ethan getting rehab becomes a matter of life and death, for Magda as well as Ethan. It's a race against time before something truly terrible happens.