Commander Adam Dalgliesh is asked by a friend, Home Office Minister Sir Paul Berowne, to be aware correspondence of a personal nature he's received. He's not being blackmailed and so there's nothing to investigate per se and he only wants Adam to keep an eye on what's going on. Sir Paul's personal life is somewhat complicated. He lives in the shadow of his late brother Hugo and has little time for his wife Barbara who is having an affair with Stephen Lampart. She is now pregnant but insists that the child is his. He's fed up with it all and decides to chuck it all in. He's not only going to resign from the Cabinet and Parliament but has decided to cancel his investment in Lampart's medical clinic and sell the family home. While on an outing, one of the Berowne family servants, Diana Travers, drowns. At New Scotland Yard meanwhile, Dalgliesh is putting together a new squad and asks Inspector Kate Miskin to join the team.

—garykmcd

Berowne's daughter clearly has a secret that she has not shared with anyone except Ivor Garrett. Dalgliesh re-interviews Lady Berowne, Sir Paul's mother, and she lets it slip that he had a mistress. She is Carole Washburn who tells Dagliesh that Berowne had gone through a religious conversion. She refuses however to disclose anything else about their relationship other than they met at work and were always discreet. Dalgliesh visits the site where Diana Travers drowned and learns from the restaurant doorman, Henry, that Berowne was there the day of the drowning and was seen soaking wet. He also meets Millicent Gentle who, she says, was expecting him. Insp. Miskin meanwhile struggles with her own guilt over her grandmother who cannot live alone and who she wishes to put into a care home.

—garykmcd