Friday, 31 December, 1999. Intruders douse a terrified victim with petrol and throw him burning from the ninth floor of a Leeds penthouse. DS Pete Bains is on night duty when the call comes in. The body is quickly identified as Nicholas Hanley but, unknown to Bains, Hanley's lover Anna Hart and her daughter are less than five miles away, kidnapped at gunpoint and struggling to stay alive. Meanwhile, the security services are looking for DC Karen Sharpe. What Sharpe has been doing not only connects her to Hanley's death, but has placed her at the disposal of men for whom human life means nothing.