The murder of a young Asian woman brings Dalziel and Pascoe into the inner city right in the middle of a racially sensitive situation. With drugs, unemployment and the closure of the only teenage community project added to the mix this rapidly becomes an explosive situation for Dalziel to handle. As the rioting gets worse and the body count increases Dalziel comes under pressure to accept the racial motivation for the murders but he refuses and continues to dig deeper into the background of the local inhabitants. When a witness comes forward with some vital information, Dalziel sets a trap to catch the culprit. During interrogation the real motives for the murders are revealed together with the complex web of lies and deceit that preceeded them.