Having spent his working life in the Intelligence Service delving into the secret lives of other people, Alex Maitland finds a certain irony in the fact that historian Michael Standing seems to have unearthed something hidden in Alex's own. Bad enough that a family member appears to have been guilty of old, unspeakable crimes; worse is that when Standing is murdered, Alex himself falls under suspicion. Following what scanty clues Michael Standing left behind, it soon becomes clear that Alex is not the only one interested in the Maitland family's past and that this past -- even his own -- is not what Alex had always supposed. As he uncovers a story of betrayal and revenge Alex Maitland finds that Standing's death is only the first.