When a 20-year-old woman is found strangled one morning by the River Kelvin, DCI Jim Taggart is assigned to the case along with his newly graduated assistant, Detective Sergeant Peter Livingstone.

Taggart and Livingstone are called in when human remains are discovered beneath the floorboards of a Glasgow home. The victim is identified as a woman who was abducted 10 years earlier.

World-famous opera singer Eleanor Samson returns home to Glasgow to sing with the Scottish Opera and reconcile with her estranged husband. But when her husband's mistress is found murdered, Eleanor quickly becomes Taggart's prime suspect.

Taggart and Livingstone investigate after the severed leg of a woman is found by the side of the road on the way out of Glasgow.

Eva and Robert Russell are an affluent couple preparing to leave Glasgow for a lengthy stay in Switzerland. Before they can depart, Eva ends up dead, Robert disappears, and £40,000 in cash goes missing.

Taggart and Livingstone investigate the attempted rape of a woman, Mary Imrie, by a masked attacker who broke into her house. They question why she will not reveal the name of a gentleman friend who was with her earlier. But when Mary commits suicide and the assailant strikes again, Taggart faces the challenge of finding a killer who seems to have no motive.