On a warm evening in June 2008 in the West Country town of Cresswell, a man runs for all he is worth to escape his pursuer. A few days earlier, two people have disappeared from Farehill University, near London. Two weeks later, a body is found in the canal in Cresswell. Six years have passed and the police investigations have led nowhere. Then one of the missing persons is reported to have been seen on a London tube train. The Detective Inspector who led the Farehill investigation, Alan Pearson, unexpectedly finds himself back on the case. It seems a long shot but Pearson is driven by a burning desire to atone for his own failure and to finally solve the mystery. His quest leads to some deeply troubling revelations concerning all the events of June 2008, and ultimately to the truth.