A teenage boy is found drowned in a canal, just hours after telling his mother that he has killed a man. Rob Beresford was a schoolfriend of Patrick's; in their shock and grief, Patrick and his mates turn for help to Naomi.

The dead man is identified as Adam Hensel: in his mid- forties, from the other side of town. There seems to have been no link between the two, and Rob was a model student, who had never been in trouble with the police.

His mother, Clara, is devastated, adamant that Rob could not have killed anyone - despite evidence to the contrary - and his friends rally around her.

Naomi is drawn into the case, by her friendship with Patrick, and because the detective handling it is her boyfriend, Alec. Then a surprising alliance is formed, between Clara and Ernst Hensel, father of the dead man. It becomes clear to Naomi that there is a complex, tragic story behind the bald facts of the case, one that has its roots in the past...