When rich, middle-aged widow Eileen Cartwright becomes obsessed with Michael Bernard, her handsome solicitor, she plots the murder of his pretty wife.

A Polish hospital porter is hired for the killing. Bumbling and remorseful, he is quickly caught. But Eileen's involvement is harder to prove as her wealth and cunningly meticulous planning have put her almost beyond the law. Helen West and Geoffrey Bailey are the crown prosecutor and detective superintendent assigned to the case. Both survivors of personal trauma, they are drawn together by a weary, shared compassion.

Only when Eileen Cartwright's extraordinary evil reaches out even from behind prison bars are events brought to a tense and thrilling climax.