In 1984, after the traumatizing death of her closest friend, amateur sleuth and former reporter Lindsay Gordon left England for California.

Nine years later, she finds herself back in her homeland, gathering data for her doctoral thesis. At a journalists' union conference in Sheffield, Lindsay reluctantly reenters the bullying, back-stabbing world of union politics. Shortly after she quarrels with the controversial, homophobic union boss Tom Jack, he tumbles out of her hotel room window, and the anonymous editor of the conference newspaper names Lindsay the murderer.

To save her skin, Lindsay and her American girlfriend, Sophie, must unravel intricate union politics to catch the killer, who may have ties to the suspicious death that sparked Lindsay's departure years before.