5 October 1982. It's been one of the worst days of Detective Sergeant Jack Frost's life. He has buried his wife Mary, and must now endure the wake, attended by all of Denton's finest.
All, that is, apart from DC Sue Clark, who spends the night pursuing a bogus tip-off, before being summoned to the discovery of a human hand. And things get worse. Local entrepreneur Harry Baskin is shot outside his club, an off-licence is set on fire and a famous painting goes missing.
As the week goes on, a cyclist is found dead in suspicious circumstances, and the arsonist strikes again. Frost is on the case, but another disaster – one he is entirely unprepared for – is about to strike . . .