Top pathologist Sam Ryan is now a professor teaching at London University. Sam is called in by ex-Detective Inspector Leslie Peterson, now a Coroner's officer, who is investigating the ditching of a helicopter ferrying crew to a gas rig with 14 passengers and two crew on board.

All Sam's skills are required when 10 more bodies are recovered from the North Sea, and the piecing together of the jigsaw of evidence begins in earnest with her pathology team. The discovery that a new rotor bolt was fitted to the crash helicopter recently and that the files are not up-to-date raises more questions. Who supplied and fitted the parts, and did the pilot and engineer sign them off?

Sam Ryan takes on a gangland murder case to help builder Brian McNally, whom she believes to be innocent.

Following the death of murder suspect Brian McNally, Sam Ryan is approached by his daughter.

When a dozen people die in a cinema fire, Connor -- now a detective chief inspector -- is in charge of the investigation and, over dinner with Sam Ryan, explains that he is coming back to London. Could their relationship be rekindled, or have they both moved on?

Having learned that violent criminal Chris Caldwell may have been wrongly convicted for murder, Sam and DCI Michael Connor are eager to get at the truth.