A young law graduate with a privileged background joins the police force to become a detective with the wholly altruistic desire to solve crime. His workmates on the lowest rung of CID see him as a threat to their jobs and their possible promotions and shun his presence. But before long he finds himself part of a murder investigation team and his ability to develop into a detective of outstanding ability becomes clear.

The initial murder, together with a flashback of a death by misadventure some two years previously, lead to another murder and the uncovering of a police corruption ring of money laundering, tax swindles and the trading of contraband including drugs.

But throughout the story, the thread of family life with its usual highs and lows, romances and worries, goals and aspirations, weave their way through the plot bringing a sensitivity to proceedings that makes the human story as engrossing as the criminal narrative itself.