Northumberland, northeast England. One night, Julie Armstrong and her boyfriend, Gary Wright, went out on a date for the first time in a long time. When she returns home late, she enters her house to find her son, Luke, murdered. From here, a series of bodies are discovered.

Jeannie Long, who was serving a life sentence for the murder of her boyfriend's daughter 11 years ago, escaped during transportation. She committed suicide by jumping into a moving bus. Jeannie, who was 22 years old at the time of the incident, was living with her boyfriend, Keith Mantel, and had a difficult relationship with her daughter, Abby.

Bella Furness, owner of Black Law Farm, is beaten to death in her barn. Bella was being asked to sell land on her farm to build a road to the quarry. Anne Preece, the first person to find her, is suspected in the murder.

One night, a woman was found bludgeoned to death. Left behind in the car were her passport, a one-way ticket to Spain, and 2,000 pounds. The victim was Margaret Wilde, 31. Her son Adam is also found dying in a nearby river, but Vera saves his life with artificial respiration.

A Molotov cocktail is thrown into the house of Stuart, a former colleague of Inspector Vera, and his daughter Stella falls into a coma. Stuart jumps to his death in front of Vera, who rushes to the hospital. Vera learns that Stuart had been on the road to success in recent years.

Jenny, a social worker, was murdered in a reservoir. She was assigned to the case two years ago when Mattie drowned her son. It turned out that Connie, who worked for Jenny, had a difficult life because of her supervisory responsibility. However, the case took a surprising turn.