A search for clues in the solitude of the Scottish Highlands.

Alison Dexter, a private detective in Inverness, has taken a break when an old acquaintance appears at her door: Violet Thompson. The millionaire's wife, with whom Alison feels more aversion than friendship, is in trouble. But before Alison can learn her secret, Violet disappears without a trace. Violet's husband seems strangely indifferent to this. Alison investigates and follows a lead into the remote Highlands. When she is attacked there and the police later find her burned-out car, the case becomes personal. Because in the trunk lies a charred corpse.