It is a savage blow to DI John Spicer when he receives a phone-call saying that the body of his wild younger brother has been found chopped-up on the moor. He had always know that Dave was wallking a dark path of drugs and violence but Jon always thought that he could turn his brother from it. The only clue on the corpse is a message on his mobile from a girl named Zoe. Jon heads up to the hills, determined to find the killer. Meanwhile Dave's young girlfriend, Zoe, is trapped in an inner city hell. Dave and her were involved with some ver bad people and with him gone they now want their pound of flesh from her. Time is running out. When he arrives at the small town in the heart of the peaks, Spicer finds a community under attack from the Manchester crimeworld. He quickly realises that the truth of it lies in two separate places. Back in the grimy world he has left behind with a young, frightened girl but also in the bleak heights that overlook the town...