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SECRETS & LIES
Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is a young, black optometrist living in London. After her adoptive parents die, she feels the need to find her birth mother. She meets with a social worker (Lesley Manville) who gives her, along with some sympathetic advice, her case file. From this, Hortense discovers to her surprise and consternation that her birth mother was white.

Her mother is Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), a sad, lonely woman who works in a factory and lives in a shabby house in the East End with her daughter Roxanne (Claire Rushbrook), a council road sweeper. They do not get along.

Cynthia's surroundings contrast sharply with those of Maurice (Timothy Spall), her younger brother, who is a successful suburban portrait and wedding photographer. Maurice's modern house boasts beautiful interior decoration, the work of his childless wife, Monica (Phyllis Logan).

Cynthia and Maurice's mother died when they were children, so Cynthia effectively brought Maurice up. They have not seen or spoken to each other for some time, and they miss each other. Maurice feels guilty about his neglect, Cynthia resentful. And no love is lost between Cynthia and Monica. Maurice visits Cynthia, who becomes very emotional. He announces that he and Monica intend to throw a small barbecue party for Roxanne's upcoming 21st birthday.

Meanwhile, having gone to great lengths to track down Cynthia, Hortense musters up the courage to phone her. Eventually realizing who the caller is, Cynthia is deeply distressed but, after some hesitation, agrees to meet her long-lost daughter a few days later.

When they finally meet and Cynthia sees that Hortense is black, she insists that there has been a terrible mistake. Only after Hortense persuades her to go to a cafe to talk does a long-suppressed memory come flooding back to Cynthia. She realizes that Hortense is indeed her daughter. The two women start to socialize and soon a fraught and suspicious initial meeting develops into a warm, loving mother-daughter relationship.

While Roxanne notices the sudden, mystifying change in her mother, Maurice and Monica anguish over whether Cynthia has ever told Roxanne that she has a half-sibling somewhere in the world.

When Cynthia phones Maurice to ask if she can bring a friend from work to the barbecue, he agrees, albeit apprehensively. When he tells Monica, she is equally circumspect. Hortense is reluctant to come to the party, but Cynthia persuades her. She duly arrives, and nobody knows who she really is. In a traumatic moment Cynthia reveals the truth...and all hell breaks loose. Most upset of all is Roxanne, whose birthday party is thrown into total disarray.

But out of the ensuing chaos come truths and revelations, although some serious questions remain. In the end, understanding, forgiveness and love prevail.

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