Solicitor Eric Ward maintains a small criminal practice on Newcastle's Quayside. This simple life, however, is soon to change. Eric's reluctant attendance at an annual dinner leads him to meet Ben Shaw, a merchant banker who seems to know an awful lot about him. What Shaw tells Eric leads to the uncomfortable dredging up of his past. It seems Jason Sullivan QC- the reason behind Eric's marriage break up- is involved in something big and it is up to Eric to find out what.

Meanwhile, DCI Charlie Spate's investigation into illegal immigration has revealed a new level of organization. Prostitution. Drugs. It's big business. However, Spate is strangely pulled off the case in favor of re-opening a cold case: the killing of Michael Podro, an old man whose murder bore a striking resemblance to Nazi death camp killings. A strange, undetermined tattoo on his shoulder may be the only clue to the truth behind his murder.

As past and present collide, Roy Lewis takes us on a gripping and suspense-ridden trip that keeps the pages turning until at last the two seemingly unrelated stories explode into one.