While investigating the death of a wealthy entrepreneur, Dalziel is reunited with old flame Kay Miclean, whose estranged husband was the victim. While all the evidence points towards the fact that he committed suicide, the victim's son and Pascoe believe that it could be murder. Dalziel believes otherwise until another death occurs.

A bus with a football team collides with a train, it crashes, three team members die. The bus driver escapes from the scene of the crime. Dalzil and Pascoe believe that the accident was not accidental and that the bus was killed. In addition, an old case of the unsolved murder of a little girl that occurred during the football riots comes up.

Dalzil and Pascoe arrive in Amsterdam at a conference of police detectives. Local police greet them with undisguised irritation. Dalsil meets a young singer and spends the night with her, and in the morning he sees that her throat was cut. Andrew becomes a suspect in this murder.

Wetherton's domestic bliss is rocked when housewife, Susan Goodman, is murdered while doing her weekly shopping. Lethal chemical, teltroxin, is the cause of death and Susan's demise is soon followed by that of Angela Veitch. As the two victims lives are put under the spotlight, a link between them and a health retreat called Arcadia is discovered. Dalziel and Pascoe head off to Arcadia, finding the slippery Brian Fairmile ruling the roost. When another guest at the retreat is killed, Dalziel and Pascoe discover more connections between the victims, large sums of money, and a mysterious Barbara Lennox. Could the person who sourced the lethal chemical be responsible for the deaths? Who exactly is Barbara? And when two people vanish, where have they gone and are they running in fear for their lives?

During a bank vault robbery, bandits kill security guard Dave Compton, a former police detective who was friends with Dalzil. Latif learns of involvement in the cause of the Asian mafia.