In Newcastle, the haven of equality found at the Carlton Ballroom all-nighter is destroyed when a young black girl, Dolores Kenny, is murdered, leading Gently to uncover a disturbing and racist undercurrent growing within the local community.

The indefatigable Chief Inspector George Gently and Detective Sergeant John Bacchus experience the inflated authority of their "social betters" first hand, when a beautiful young girl called Ellen Mallam is found dead in the passenger seat of a an upturned car registered to local aristocrats.

Gently and Bacchus are thrown into an emotionally-wrought case when a middle class couple’s adopted child is kidnapped. It takes them to a mother and baby home where young single mothers are forced to give up their infants, where the shame of illegitimacy still burns the cheeks of single mothers.

Gently finds himself suspended from duty – powerless, unprotected and persecuted. Gently must confront his deepest fears and fight to the death…

Gently is surprised after he receives Bacchus’s resignation, and he soon works out that he has lost his confidence. Attempting to help Bacchus, Gently insists that he needs him to help investigate a death in custody.

Gently and Bacchus make their way to a family holiday camp to investigate both the staff and holidaymakers after a body of one of the greencoats is discovered nearby. Gently and Bacchus soon discover a story of jealousy, ambition and the dark side of a permissive society.

When two deaths connect in an unexpected way, Gently finds himself drawn into the world of drugs and LSD, and considering a Cold-War conspiracy. In the process of his investigation Gently relies on the help of an old friend – and as they begin to dig into the case, old feelings begin to stir for Gently.

A suspicious death in the mine in Burnsend leads Gently and Bacchus to explore the tensions and relationships in a community whose seams have been ripped wide open by politics – and discover grudges that date back to the Second World War.