An Irish vagrant with a strange ability wanders Kew Gardens. She knows that the fine weather is going to break and the impending rain casts her mind back to a riverbank where a shady fisherman once asked for her help. The same fisherman, years later, runs into a childhood friend and becomes intrigued by his wife.

She in turn is charmed by his boldness and his confidence. One day she goes out for a walk and never returns. In another time, in another place, a photographer notices two ghostly figures - of a man and a woman - on pictures developed from his vintage lens.

The images become clearer with each roll of film, but his dogged investigation of the mystery could cost him dearly. So spool out the lives in Catchlights: the past contains the present and future; shallow and deep acts of cruelty, love, selfishness and kindness reverberate for years.