The story centres on the murder of a young woman in 1963 and the man who was hanged for her murder. Over two decades later the murder impinges upon the lives of Jim Kelly, the hanged man's son and his friend Andrew Myers. Jim Kelly, who was convinced his father was innocent and spent every spare moment trying to prove it, disappears in mysterious circumstances. Some years later, Andrew's secure and predictable life changes in ways that he could never have imagined.