Professor Helen Vaughan, one of the foremost scientists in the field of DNA research and still only in her middle thirties, is found slumped over her desk in her office at the City Hospital, having been bludgeoned to death by a severe blow to the side of her head. Feared and disliked by her colleagues for her acerbic wit, the police soon discover that she had a colorful private life featuring sadomasochistic games. Investigation into her sex life, her difficult and traumatic upbringing, and hospital tensions all lead to the understanding of the deadly obsession that led to her death and the person responsible for it.