Synopsis

This is a true story: It's what every parent fears: their child not coming home when they're meant to. On the evening of March 1st, 1999 Rachel Barber, a fifteen year old student, doesn't climb off the tram to meet her dad, Mike. Elizabeth, her mother, and Mike bolt into action. This simple action - not coming home on time - is totally out of character. Something had gone wrong - something bad had happened to their daughter. Caroline Reed is nineteen and overwhelmed with self-hatred. Writing to her parents that she should have been aborted, she looks in the mirror and sees a fat, ugly, pimply, dirty misfit. Nobody likes her, least of all her father who ignores the barrage of mail she sends - a letter a day. Once Rachel's babysitter, Caroline has found an alter-ego that seems to fit neatly into what she wants to be: pretty, "a free-wheeling spirit", a confident, happy girl, a ballet dancer, the grand-daughter of famous Melbourne author, Ivan Southall. Caroline begins to stalk Rachel, noting her clothes, her movements. She applies for a new birth certificate. In Rachel's name - but with her address. Days roll by - a week passes. Elizabeth loses twenty kilos. Mike turns grey. Manni can't function. Almost two weeks later, a computer analyst with Missing Persons; DePyle, sees one of the posters on his way to work. Touched by the desperate effort of the parents he commences his own private investigation...it can't be official;there's no foul play. Will this crew unravel the mystery of Rachel’s disappearance when the police are unwilling to?

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