After fifty years at the helm of his own detective agency, illness is forcing private eye John Samson to hand over control of the firm to his junior partner, Shandy, and to remain involved only as a consultant. The night before the handover, Shandy's sixteen-year-old daughter is raped by a gang of youths on her way home from a party. As her assailants flee, she catches sight of a young black man with an unforgettable identifying feature - one of his fingers is missing. Now, when Samson has ostensibly left the firm, his involvement could be crucial. And the person who needs him most is young Sylvester Manley, an innocent witness with a missing finger, who is too scared to come forward at a time when racial hatred is as live an issue as ever in inner-city London.