Detective Sergeant Timothy Wallace stumbles across a body washed ashore at an English seaside town. When it looks like a murder, suspicion falls on Nicole Carlisle, an international courier.

Tim's career is a mess. His boss is angry at his attempt to link the waterlogged corpse with her failure to arrest a drug dealer. She even blames Tim for the stray dog living in the police station car park. Tim's personal life is just as chaotic, and his relationship with his girlfriend has hit a critical roadblock.

Told to build a case against Nicole, Tim finds himself falling for her. When another dead body turns up, and there is a connection to Nicole, he hopes it is a coincidence. However, when he is attacked on the footpath along the local canal, the circumstances again point to Nicole's involvement. Tim's efforts to prove her innocence turn into a race against time to prevent Nicole from becoming a victim in the waterway murder.