Claudia Fleischman is beautiful, rich, intelligent and has just been charged with the murder of her husband. Hardy, hired to look into the background of the case, is soon up to his neck in trouble. When his car is blown up and then a friend is killed, Cliff finds himself with a personal stake in the action. His investigations introduce him to the shadowy world of corporate high flyers at Sydney's exclusive Washington Club and bring him into contact with loose cannon Haitch Henderson and his soft but unpleasant pimp of a son, Noel. In one of his grittiest cases ever, Hardy has to take drastic action before the pieces fall into place and a very rough justice is seen to be done.