At Christmas, Peter Maxwell is drawn into two apparently unrelated deaths in Leighford. A woman falls from the roof of a car park, while on the same day a secretary discovers her employer murdered at his desk. The lack of an obvious connection leaves the police with little reason to treat the crimes as part of the same case.
Maxwell becomes suspicious of a newly arrived history teacher who seems to know an unusual amount about local residents and events in their past. As he looks more closely at the victims, old grievances and concealed histories begin to provide links that were invisible at first. The festive setting contrasts with an investigation increasingly concerned with memory and retribution, forcing Maxwell to work out whether someone has returned to Leighford to settle accounts before another person is selected for punishment.
