Yorkshire, June 1984: War is raging between the police and striking mine workers. New recruit John Carlyle is sent up from London to man the picket lines. But when seventy-eight year old rose grower and political activist Beatrice Slater is found dead, the young constable's tour of duty takes a dramatic turn. With the internal security service watching his every move, local police chief Rob Holt is under pressure to make a quick arrest. Carlyle finds himself drawn into a murder investigation that gets more complicated by the day. Was Slater's death a robbery gone wrong? Or was she silenced because of her support for the strike?