Eric Chalmers is one of the most popular teachers at Muirpark Secondary School in Glasgow. Gentle and kind, he is the person the students come to when they want to confide in someone. So when precocious teenager Julie Donaldson accuses Chalmers of rape, the school goes into shock. How could a deeply religious family man like Chalmers do anything like that? With some students and teachers supporting Julie, and others standing by Chalmers, life at Muirpark is far from harmonious. And then things get much worse - Julie Donaldson goes missing, and the police are called in.

For DCI William Lorimer, this is the second missing persons case in a week. He s been having sleepless nights about a toddler who has been missing for several days - with each day, the likelihood of her being found alive diminishes. Julie s disappearance adds a further burden to Lorimer s already overstretched workload. With hope fading, it becomes a breakneck race against time to find both missing girls.