A teacher is bludgeoned to death and a volatile black teenager is arrested: as far as DCI Michael Thackeray is concerned, that's it, case closed. Though absent at the time of the murder and subsequent arrest, Thackeray is convinced that it was an open-and-shut case; that justice has been done. But when his long-term girlfriend, Laura Ackroyd, begins digging into the case for a newspaper article she's working on, some disturbing facts come to light facts that cause the case against the accused youngster to unravel at an alarming rate and lead Thackeray to wonder if there could have been a sinister reason behind the youth's speedy arrest. With the case re-opened, it becomes clear that difficult questions need to be asked and Thackeray soon finds himself under attack from within the Police Force, as his own loyalty and integrity are called into question. Under threat from all sides, can Thackeray - his career and his personal life - survive the heavy strain of suspicion, or will the pressure finally become too much?