A lump of concrete dropped deliberately from a bridge over an unfrequented road kills the wrong person. The driver behind is spared. But only for a while... The case gets Chief Inspector Wexford wondering about how terrible it would be to discover that one of his daughters had been murdered. Sylvia has always been a cause for concern, living alone with two children, and now pregnant again. The relationship between father and daughter has always been uneasy, but the current situation provokes a division between Wexford and his wife, Dora. And now a member of the press is gunning for the Chief Inspector, distinctly unimpressed by what he regards as old-fashioned policing methods.