Peacock’s latest limited series, All Her Fault, has captured viewers with its gripping narrative. The intense storyline revolves around Marissa Irvine, portrayed by Sarah Snook, a successful wealth manager. Her world is turned upside down when she goes to pick up her 5-year-old son, Milo, played by Duke McCloud, after a playdate, only to discover she’s been misled with a fake address and her son is missing.

Faced with a parent’s worst nightmare, Marissa and her husband, Peter, depicted by Jake Lacy, embark on a frantic quest to find their son. They are joined by Marissa’s new friend and fellow mother, Jenny Kaminski, played by Dakota Fanning, and Detective Alcaras, the lead investigator on the case, brought to life by Michael Peña. As they delve deeper, hidden secrets come to light, shattering the pristine image of the Irvine family and profoundly affecting everyone involved.

The series features a stellar cast, including Sophia Lillis, Abby Elliott, Jay Ellis, Daniel Monks, Melanie Vallejo, Thomas Cocquerel, and Laura Bent. Together, they navigate heavy themes and gripping drama throughout the 8-episode mystery thriller. But are these characters or the story itself rooted in real life?

Here’s what you need to know about the blend of fact and fiction in All Her Fault.

Is All Her Fault on Peacock Based on a True Story?

While All Her Fault isn’t directly based on any specific true crime incident, the Peacock Original series does take some inspiration from real-world elements.

All Her Fault is an adaptation of Andrea Mara’s 2021 book of the same name, and while her published work is a piece of fiction, the driving force of the story is inspired by an actual incident from Mara’s life. In a YouTube video introducing the book, the Irish author shares that “the book was based on a real-life event whereby I went to collect my daughter from a playdate and found myself standing outside an unoccupied house.”

Luckily, a neighbor was quick to quell Mara’s panic by informing her of the family’s recent move to a new home, making her realize that she was just dealing with an outdated address rather than a full-scale kidnapping or deadly mystery. “It all ended very, very quickly. Much more quickly than it does for Marissa in the book.”

So, while All Her Fault is based on the terror that Mara felt when confronted with this empty, unfamiliar home where she thought her child would be, the similarities between the show and life diverge from there, with the former going deep into a dark imagining of any parent or guardian’s worst-case scenario. Additionally, Mara’s book and Peacock’s series share some differences, as the show attempts to delve even further into the immense pressure, expectations, and finger-pointing that often come with motherhood, the shocking lengths a mother can go to for her child’s sake, and what it might take for a person to be pushed to commit a grave act they can’t come back from.

Watch All Her Fault now on Peacock.