As a child, Kate Ashby was rescued from the horrific aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. She was adopted and brought up in Britain by Eve Ashby, a world-class international lawyer. Kate has long struggled to escape the shadow of her past, but is now returning to work as a legal investigator in the same chambers as Eve, under leading international lawyer Michael Ennis. Kate and Eve's relationship is strained to breaking point when a controversial militia leader, who had once fought to stop the genocide, is captured in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Eve takes on his prosecution at the International Criminal Court.

Patrice Ganimana's warnings about Kate's safety are borne out when Kate and Alice are both attacked. But Kate, nevertheless, continues her search for the case file her mother had prepared against Ganimana years before. But are establishment forces somehow closing ranks to impede bringing Ganimana to justice?