Six armed men steal £26m worth of gold from the Brink’s-Mat security depot and set about trying to dispose of the bullion. DCI Brian Boyce sets up a police task force to investigate.

A chain is set up to smelt the stolen Brink's-Mat gold, sell it back into the market and launder the profits. The police investigation leads them to Kent and Kenneth Noye.

The police set up surveillance on Noye and are led to Palmer and more of the gold chain suspects. The resulting raids end in tragedy in Noye's garden.