Divorced ex-policeman Jackson Brodie works as a private eye on largely mundane cases until, by chance, he meets sisters Amelia and Julia Land. They ask him to look into the disappearance of their little sister Olivia 30 years earlier now that her favourite toy has surfaced in the belongings of their late father. At the same time, agitated lawyer Theo Wynne, impatient at police lack of progress, has him investigate the recent murder of his teen-aged daughter Laura at his office. With reluctant help from ex-colleague Louise, Jackson learns that Laura's teacher Jessup made a pass at her but had an alibi. Her boyfriend Josh, however, recalls that she had another, jealous admirer though Theo refuses to believe it of his little girl. Jackson is then picked up in a bar by Shirley, who asks his help in finding her missing niece Tanya. All these circumstances remind him of the murder of his sister years ago when he was a young boy.

Jackson finally solves the mystery of Laura's killer whilst Shirley, about to make a wealthy marriage, tells him that she feels guilty because she promised to look after Tanya, the daughter of her sister Michelle who was sent to prison for murdering her husband. Tanya went off the rails on discharge from a care home and Shirley wants to make amends. A meeting with Michelle however paints a different picture and Jackson is convinced that Shirley only wants Tanya found so that she does not ruin the marriage. Fortunately a happy coincidence brings closure for Tanya and Theo whilst the Lands' eldest sister, now a nun, throws light on the fate of Olivia. Jackson, however, is perturbed to learn that his ex-wife is leaving, with their daughter, for a job in New Zealand.

After seeing the corpse of a woman in the river - which disappears before the police arrive - Jackson intervenes,along with crime writer Martin Canning, when Paul Bradley is the victim of an apparently random road rage attack. At the hospital's request Martin accompanies Paul home on his discharge and gets a shock when he looks in his bag. Meanwhile Jackson learns that the dead girl was Russian and worked for a rather sinister cleaning company. The trail leads to an orthodox church also used by dominatrix Tatiana who was pleasuring dodgy businessman Graham Hatter when he succumbed to a massive heart attack and who strikes up an unlikely friendship with Graham's wife Gloria. After another Russian girl's corpse is found Jackson has reason to believe Martin is in danger and rushes to his house but somebody has been there ahead of him.

The dead man is not Martin ,who reappears,having been drugged by the mysterious Bradley who then disappeared. Jackson learns that Graham Hatter ran the cleaning company, which is a front for sex-trafficking and approaches Gloria who identifies Smith,the man who attacked Bradley and Jackson as one of Graham's most trusted employees. Gloria introduces Jackson to Tatiana and the two women plan to leave town with Graham's ill-gotten gains. However Smith comes calling and once again Martin proves himself to be a hero whilst Bradley's identity is revealed. Jackson,however,prepares to bid goodbye to his daughter Marlee as she leaves for New Zealand.

Louise's date with doctor Patrick Carter is interrupted when she has to attend at a train wreck,caused when an elderly woman driver died at the wheel and crashed her car on the line. Jackson had tried to save her and is in turn rescued by Reggie,a young nanny who knew the dead woman and wants him to locate her employer Joanna Hunter,a doctor,who disappeared with her baby son. She is not convinced by Joanna's husband Neil's story that they are staying with an aunt. Using the identity of Andrew Jones,a man whose wallet Reggie picked up from the railway lines in mistake for Jackson's they hire a car and discover that Neil was lying about Joanna's alleged visit to her aunt. Then Jackson is arrested, as Andrew Jones is a wanted man.

Louise vouches for Jackson,who is released,the real Andrew Jones killing himself,though a sinister link is established between him and an incident from Joanna's girlhood. Through Reggie's brother Billy, Jackson learns that Neil knows more about his family's disappearance than he claims and together Reggie and Jackson track Joanna and her baby down. Jackson's working day is not over, thanks to an obsessive husband in a divorce case.