The section house of an anonymous Midlands New Town. Detective Constable Endeavour Morse drafts his letter of resignation from the Police Force.

It is a letter he will never deliver.

For this disciplined but conflicted young man, fate has conspired to draw Endeavour back, against his will, to the place which will shape, and, ultimately, define his destiny.

A fifteen year-old schoolgirl, Mary Tremlett, is missing, presumed dead. Deep in a full-blown murder enquiry, led by Detective Inspector Fred Thursday, Endeavour finds himself side-lined, discredited and at a dead end. His progress is stymied by the prejudices of Detective Sergeant Arthur Lott, who takes umbrage against this “college boy”, and a chief superintendent cowed into submission by blackmail. But Morse’s cerebral instincts soon prove vital to a break in the case.