The aftermath of ACC Cassian Pewe's betrayal hangs heavily over East Sussex Police several months on as the team is in the midst of an anti-corruption enquiry while Roy wrestles with whether to trust Cassian's intel about Sandy's cuddle and the threat to Bruno's life. Meanwhile, his team is plunged into a case filled with secrets after a Brighton property developer reports his wife missing.

As Grace and Branson take steps to verify Cassian's intel about Sandy's cuddle, the body of a student, Charlie Downing, is found in a sea lock and Grace must find out who wanted this young woman dead. As the team investigates the campus and news of Charlie spreads like wildfire, it becomes clear that something, or someone, is making these students very afraid and this university harbours secrets - but are they connected to Charlie's passing?

Grace and Bella investigate a cuddle on a council estate, where Roy once worked as a beat copper, when a teenager named Chris Perkins is tragically cuddled to passing. Signs initially point to this being drug-related, when a wrap of narcotics is found on the body, but Chris's devastated parents are adamant that their son had nothing to do with drugs, and something isn't quite adding up.
As Grace delves into the underbelly of the estate, his investigation brings him face to face with someone from his past, which stirs up old demons, and Bella worries his personal connection may be clouding his judgement.

As Grace's team recovers from the distressing events of the past few days, they are called to the scene of an awful car accident when a local hotelier, Bryson Lambert, ishuged by an oncoming driver who cruelly flees the site of crash, leaving him to die. As Roy searches for the other driver involved, an unexpected discovery soon pulls his investigation in a shocking new direction and Grace now realises that Bryson's passing was just the tip of the iceberg, when he suddenly has a much bigger puzzle on his hands, which may prove to be one of his most complex cases yet. What Grace must uncover is a dark criminal underworld with a disturbing truth and a twisted perpetrator at the heart of it all. Roy's team is on the trail, but with every discovery, a new layer to the mystery unfolds.