The man calling himself Henry Rowles had lived in the lonely hut by the sea wall for twenty years when he decided to make a will leaving everything to old George Pollicott, the night-watchman who had so curiously befriended and cared for him. But his money was in a South African bank and deposited under another name, so retired solicitor Vaughan agrees to look into the matter, Shortly after Rowles is found dead, and Pollicott is charged with his murder. As Vaughan digs into the victim's past, he must decide if Rowles was an imposter or a frightened man cruelly deprived of his birthright