Plot summary
At the instigation of her former police colleague Andy Davidson, Torchwood agent Gwen is investigating Jonah Bevan's disappearance. After Jonah's mother Nikki starts a support group for relatives of missing people in the Cardiff area, Gwen realises that there are more cases resembling Jonah's disappearance. Gwen collates a chart of the missing people and her colleague Toshiko discovers that all the disappearances occurred during negative spikes of activity from the Cardiff Rift. Gwen and Toshiko postulate the implications of this: that the Rift can take people away and discard them elsewhere. Gwen confronts her boss Jack with her research but he repeatedly orders her to stop the investigation.
Gwen becomes consumed with the issue of the missing individuals and this takes its toll on her relationship with her husband Rhys. They argue, and he states that if Gwen is working to safeguard ordinary life then she has not been successful. Returning to Torchwood's Hub, Gwen is given a GPS device with coordinates to a hidden location by Ianto. The device leads Gwen to a facility on Flat Holm which is home to 17 individuals taken by the Rift who have returned. Gwen finds Jack there, and demands access to Jonah. An older Jonah has been physically deformed whilst on a burning planet in the midst of a burning solar system. Jack reveals that he set up the facility when he first took command of Torchwood, in order to care for the victims of the Rift, who had previously been locked away in the Torchwood vaults.
Gwen brings Nikki in to see Jonah under the supervision of a facility staff member. Nikki thinks about taking Jonah home to care for him herself. However, Jonah starts screaming horribly, the result of looking into the heart of a dark star, and necessitating that everyone leave his company. Gwen visits Nikki a week later, who implores her not to show the island to anyone else. At home that night Gwen prepares a romantic candle-lit dinner for Rhys who, realising that she is upset, insists that Gwen shares her burden.
Credits
Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, Adrift (Torchwood). Narrative and paragraph formatting adjusted; illustrations, reference markers and non-story material omitted.