English painter Alex Carlisle returns to the house in Italy in which he grew up and finds himself struggling with memories of his eighth summer, when he, his best friend, and his first love discovered a man with a gunshot wound, nursed him back to health, and came to understand he was a terrorist--an event that would shape the rest of their lives.
Friends Frankie, Geoff, Alex, Mike, and Liz agree to spend three days locked in a small, windowless cellar as a practical joke, but on the third day, they realize that their friend Martyn is not planning to let them out.
Five British teenagers stage the prank to top all pranks by disappearing into a small, inescapable cellar underneath their school for three days-- but it seems the joke is on them when Martyn, the master schemer behind the ruse, does not show up to let them out.
Matthew's search for answers about his childhood and his family lead him to kidnap his own sister and demand she reveal what she knows, no matter what the cost is.
