Susie Cunningham, an attractive, 24-year-old freelance photographer, is about to leave for her first holiday on a cruise. Driving to Southampton, she is unaware that her last employer - with whom she was having an affair - has been brutally murdered in his apartment. As she was seen at the apartment building around the time of his death, Susie and a young man seen leaving just before she arrived are now the number one suspects. But despite putting out a call to all ports, the police receive no response; both suspects seem to have disappeared. What should have been a straight forward case for Detective Inspector Bill Forward soon becomes a complicated investigation.