An ex-policeman, ex-husband and ex-lawyer, Dismas Hardy is now a barman wondering what to do with the rest of his life. Then he hears that one of his friends, Eddie Cochran, has just lost his. It seems that Eddie killed himself but, recently married to Frannie McGuire, the sister of Dismas's boss Moses, Eddie had a lot to live for. Reluctantly, Dismas agrees to use his long-neglected skills to investigate the death, if only to rescue Frannie from the agony of believing her husband killed himself. At first it appears Eddie was silenced when heh stumbled on a drug deal. But Dismas gets to know Eddie's family and starts to uncover a reservoir of anger rotting the fabric that binds the generations. And then another member of the Cochran clan goes missing...