Rufus Tremayne has an expensive yacht has been brought ashore on his beach - he should dismiss it as an accident at sea and move on one is on board. Maybe? Only Martin Wilcox thinks it's worth investigating after he finds a coded message hidden on board. The body of a young girl is discovered in woodland - she has been beaten to death and the yacht takes a back seat. Things develop and a link is formed between the yacht's owner and the dead girl. The trail leads them back and forth from Merseyside to Anglesey.