When a dead child is found in the River Fowey on a grey November morning, her hair trapped in a mooring chain keeping her from the rough Cornish sea, the currents lead DI Treloar and his team upstream to the idyllic setting and therapy of the Valley of the Tides where residents work with dark obsessions.
Jackson Power, founder of the Valley of the Tides and Hollywood superstar, is mourning the loss of his first-born, unaware that his arrival in Cornwall has aroused a growing anger in a formidable foe, and that forbidden assignations are happening on his doorstep.
Further west, Treloar visits his first boss in a Falmouth hospice. Before slipping away he had a mission for his former acolyte and an admission which would rock Treloar and threaten his family, pitting him against one of the most feared men in Europe.
As Treloar fights growing evil, rivalries resurface, resentment spills out and unspeakable deeds are uncovered. He looks to secretive allies for aid as powerful forces conspire to protect their interests. And when Jackson Power thinks he has lived through the worst, he will face a father’s ultimate nightmare; how on earth can Treloar help this time?