A year after her murder, the police re-open the case of Yvonne Harrison when they receive an anonymous letter implicating a burglar, Harry Repp, who is about to be released from prison. Supt. Strange assigns the case to DS Lewis, who is chafing at the bit awaiting his promotion to Inspector. Morse has been ill and has only just returned to work. He steps on Lewis' toes by involving himself in the case, but as the body count rises, Morse finds himself in charge of investigating a woman who had many affairs with many different men. When he learns that the dead men were in possession of large amount of cash, he suspects they were blackmailing her murderer.
When a romantic getaway to Paris takes a dark turn with the sudden disappearance of her boyfriend Tom aboard a train to the south of France, Alice is plunged into a web of intrigue and danger, uncovering shocking secrets about the man she thought she knew