Successful criminal defence lawyer, Jon Shaw, comes face to face with, Danny Hallam, the man he tried to murder twenty-five years ago...

Then: While drug running for a local crime lord, Danny decides to call in a large debt from a young female drug addict, Micki Ashton. During a chaotic night on a riverbank, in which punches are thrown, Shaw steps in to protect the defenceless woman, but things turn deadly when Danny produces a knife and Micki is stabbed. Appalled by his friend's actions, Shaw deliberately pushes Danny into the river. Danny survives and, arrested and charged for murder, spends the next quarter of a century in prison.

Now: Meanwhile, the gang disintegrates, each haunted by the death of a young woman. Throughout his sentence, Danny refuses to name those involved. But someone knows and believes they should all pay. As, one by one, the former friends are picked off only Danny and Shaw remain. With the race on to identify a determined and forensically aware killer, Shaw throws in his lot with a detective who has her own cross to bear and her own reasons for abandoning routine police procedure.