The heat is on for Bob Skinner, Scotland's most revered, and in some circles, most feared cop. His career hangs by a thread, as a recent illness gives his enemies a weapon to use against him. A body found in the detritus of a flood is identified as the hated brother whose existence Skinner has kept hidden for years. On the crime front, an incendiary device destroys a valuable painting in Edinburgh's Royal Scottish Academy. As Skinner and his team tackle these crises, his wife Sarah--left in America with their children, to recover from the tragic death of her parents--finds comfort with an old college lover. When fate leaves her staring at a seemingly inevitable murder conviction, Skinner will need all his fearsome resources to sort out the tangled mess of his life. But is he still up to the challenge?