Ending his secondment to London’s Met Police, Roy Grace gets a tip-off about a drugs mastermind operating out of Brighton. On his first day back in his old job, he is called to a seemingly senseless murder.

Gradually, Grace’s investigation draws him into the evil sphere of an utterly ruthless drug dealer on trial. A man prepared to order the death of anyone it takes to enable him to walk free from court. Sitting in the jury is Meg Magellan, whose daughter's life is being threatened by a stranger who tells her that if she ever wants to see her alive again, it is very simple.

At the end of the trial, all she has to do is make sure the jury says just two words... Not guilty.