After DSI Sullivan loses his wife and kids he struggles with alcoholism and his inner demons while trying to track down the latest serial killer to darken the northern English streets.
A police officer is found raped and murdered but political machinations force the investigating team to act in a manner which denies justice to the family. The search for the culprits takes the team to the borderlands of India and China.
A photographer named Andrew Kaleen incidentally gets wrapped up in a series of murders delivered through clues in the form of 35mm film.