Detective Sally Bithron has been tipped off about a clandestine meeting of two sets of drug dealers. But her stakeout goes wrong when violence and murder ensue. Three men are convicted, but a fourth, Frank Latimer, is found not guilty, partly because of Sally's evidence. Sally's superiors are convinced Frank was guilty. And so are the patriarchs of a big, and very unpleasant, South London crime family, one of whose daughters was brutally battered in the bungled meeting. Their code demands revenge - revenge against Frank, perhaps against Sally's informant, and perhaps against Sally herself.