The pathologists investigate when a military helicopter crashes into a refugee detention center. Harry and Nikki actually witnessed the crash and were first on the scene but the case is complex since the center was Ministry of Defense property leased to the Home Office. The team is shocked at the conditions they find in the center and Harry, who has a close friend in the RAF, is shaken when a government Minister attributes the accident to pilot error.

Harry is convinced that the RAF is trying to cover up the real reasons for the crash. This is re-enforced when the dead pilot's father tells him that no one liked or trusted the particular type of helicopter that crashed. When given a chance to perform the post-mortem on the pilot, they find a possible physical cause however. In examining one of the dead refugees, Nikki concludes that he had undergone plastic surgery. She attempts a facial reconstruction to see if they can identify him.

Harry is in Budapest with Anna Sandor, a lawyer committed to women's rights who wants him to perform a second autopsy on Sofi, a pregnant Romanian prostitute drowned in the Danube. Anna disbelieves the official version that Sofi killed herself but the body is quickly cremated and Anna is murdered. Harry is pursued by the gangsters who killed her, hiding out with street dweller Janos, who tells him not to trust the police. Leo answers Harry's distress call and flies out but Anna's doctor father believes Harry murdered her and detective Orban tells Leo Anna was pregnant by Harry. Harry breaks into Anna's office, finding links to a brothel run by the same tattooed men who pursued him. He and Janos flee but the men shoot them. Leo suspects police duplicity in the gang's ability to locate Harry so quickly.

Nikki flies to Budapest and is called to a secret meeting with Leo to avoid Orban. Harry appears, having faked his death to pursue his enquiries. From another prostitute Marina he learns that the gang use the girls to produce babies for influential people who, for various reasons, cannot have children of their own. If the girls are HIV positive like Sofi, they are killed, a fact that Anna had uncovered. Harry approaches Anna's father who says he knew what was happening but wanted to shield Anna from it, before dropping another bombshell. With the British ambassador and other dignitaries involved in the plot, the pathologists have to trust Orban if they are to bring an end to the racket.