The series is based on Laura Lippman's bestselling novel of the same name. On Thanksgiving Day 1966, the disappearance of a young girl swept Baltimore, and the lives of two women collided fatally. Maddie Schwartz (Natalie Portman) is a Jewish housewife who tries to escape her secret past and become an investigative reporter again; Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram) is a mother who struggles to support her family while working at the bottom of Baltimore's black political community. At first, their different lives seem to be parallel, but when Maddie begins to focus on Cleo's puzzling death, a crack opens up, putting everyone around them in danger.