Henry Christie is focused on running his pub, the Tawny Owl, where he learns of the Kendleton protest group's fury with James Twain, a local property developer, and the keen desire of some residents to solve a murder that stretches back to the Second World War. When James is viciously killed in his barn, and another body is found in similar disturbing circumstances nearby, Henry is drawn into the investigations and the villagers' dark wartime secrets. Pulled out of retirement once more to lead a double murder inquiry for Lancashire police, can he uncover the truth behind chilling events both past and present?