In the coastal resort of Scarborough in northern England, a student's body has been discovered. Months of searching in the dark are followed by a similar murder. The two victims don't seem to be related in any way. Valerie Almond, a driven police officer, holds on to the all-too-obvious: a schism in the family of the second victim. However, for a very long time, she is unable to see the poison that is affecting this family and whose origins she would have to go back very far in time. And it takes almost too long for Valerie Almond to realize that a sick criminal has not yet quenched his thirst for revenge...