Tyneside solicitor Eric Ward has a new client: Dieter Barschel, an ex-professional footballer charged with drug dealing at a Newcastle racecourse. In managing to secure bail for his client, Eric precipitates a murder investigation, this time with connections stretching far outside Tyneside's borders. Eric soon finds himself having to protect a German journalist, Hannah Witt, who thinks the case is connected to her homeland. Could it have anything to do with the Stasi, or perhaps even the IRA?

Whilst defending Barschel, Eric manages to annoy one of the prosecuting witnesses, DCI Charlie Spate. Nevertheless, the two men find that they must work together to try and resolve the mess that they feel partly responsible for creating. Meanwhile, Spate is almost as obsessed with the charms of DS Elaine Start as he is with solving the case, but embarrassing revelations about his acquaintance with Romy Arendt, a prostitute, may threaten both his career and any possible chance of romance.