DI Tom Mariner is about to take a well-earned break when six-week-old Jessica Klinnemann is abducted from the creche at a local day nursery. His leave cancelled, Mariner becomes the lead on the highly public case. But what at first appears to be a random kidnap gradually begins to look like a meticulously planned operation. The motive remains unclear, until Mariner discovers that the baby's father works for a scientific research company that has long been the target of animal rights activists.

Two days later when the incident comes to an astonishing conclusion, a crude note seems to confirm that that animal rights protesters were behind the scare. But when one of the creche workers is killed in a hit and run, the case is blown wide open...