The once-beautiful beach resort of Bushrangers Bay, not far from Melbourne, is the site of multiple crimes that must be investigated by Inspector Hal Challis. A toddler is missing; an unidentified man is fished out of the sea; cars are being stolen; and letterboxes burned. And then one of Challis's own friends, Kitty Casement, is found murdered. So begins the investigation. Figuring out the connections and identifying the criminals absorbs all the energy and intelligence of this cast of sympathetic but complicated policemen and women.