Up-and-coming drug lord Keith Vine likes the fine work of his best pusher, Eleri ap Vaughan, who sells to the rich on the floating restaurant The Eton Boating Song, but when Eleri strays (gets supplies from someone else), Vine kills her. Her death is intended as a message to the other players to stay loyal, but instead - amid fears of an intended invasion from the London syndicate (in the person of a lurking stranger, "Lovely Mover") - it sets off a murderous struggle for control. Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur, working undercover as Vine's supposed partner, now finds himself in increasing danger, and only one person suspects what he's up to - his sneering superior ACC Desmond Iles, a man he can't always trust. Before the story comes to its exciting conclusion, Harpur will be lucky to get out alive.
