Adapted from P.D. James's popular novel of the same name, Cmdr. Adam Dalgliesh (Roy Marsden) visits a teaching hospital to interview a critically ill suspect in Dalgliesh's current case, but two nurses are murdered shortly after he arrives. Blackmail muddies the water, so Dalgliesh puts his formidable investigative skills to use and sets out to find the killer -- against the orders of his supervisors at Scotland Yard.