When a young girl Jill Harris is murdered the case soon becomes personal for Monika Paniatowski. She saw the victim looking distressed only hours before she was killed and Jill was the same age as her own daughter Louisa. Driven by guilt and pity Monika throws herself into the investigation but both the chief constable who is away and Colin Beresford - her right hand man - think she is too emotionally involved to handle it. What none of them know is that the killer is planning to strike again . . .