Irish teenager Josephine works as a childminder, but what the families who hire her don't realise is that her own childhood, with a drunken single mother and her various unsavoury boyfriends, has left a terrible legacy. The first victims are Dr and Mrs Casey, who hire thirteen year old Josephine to live in and help look after their baby girl, leading to divorce and a near-fatal illness. She then moves on to an American couple, who watch the sunny personality of their young son inexplicably darken before tragedy strikes. A convincing and disturbing portrait of a mind damaged by the experiences of childhood, which succeeds in making Josephine at once sympathetic and frightening.