William Hawkesley is a mess; he had been the rising star of Bristol CID for so long he had forgotten what it was like to fail, but now he knows and he does not like it at all. Finally a chance comes his way, a case of his own again, but not in the city, that would be much too easy, no, he is posted to deepest Dorset, a place he has spent the last ten years trying to avoid. After all this is 1975 and nobody in their right mind would want to live in Dorset, but it is not just the place which worries DI Hawkesley, there is something else, and the last thing he wants to do is go back.