Returned After a Year

Five-year-old Poppy is taken from her preschool by her mother, Elara, who threatens her father, Adrian, that he will never see his daughter again if he remarries. He refuses to yield, and Elara carries Poppy off to another city, certain he will beg them to return. He does not; he calls the police, and when Elara threatens to take her own life, he marries anyway. A year later, when his new wife's baby is born, Elara's last hope dies.

That night she drives Poppy to Adrian's house and leaves her on the doorstep in the dark, telling her she needs a new life and a career. Poppy, who has been told again and again that her father no longer wants her, is too frightened to knock. She curls up on the cold steps and waits for morning.

She is found by Claire, the woman her mother calls the homewrecker. Instead of turning her away, Claire brings her inside, gives her warm slippers and ginger tea, and notices the bruises on her arm. Adrian is still at work, and Poppy must now face the father she believes has forgotten her.