Sam is shaken when she has to look into the death of a very dear friend, Dr. Annabelle Evans, a Cambridge professor. She was found in her home, badly beaten in what appears to be a botched burglary attempt. The police immediately focus on the husband as the likely killer but Sam suspects that an altercation at a local restaurant during the May Ball, where a waiter spilled wine on Annabelle and was fired on the spot, may provide another suspect. Sam is also intrigued by the relationship some of her students may have had with Annabelle, particularly when she learns her friend may have had a lover. In her personal life, Sam has moved on. Her sister Wyn has relocated to Ireland and Peter Ross has also been transferred. She does however run into an old friend who also happens to be an acquaintance of her business partner Trevor.

As Sam, et al continue to look into Annabelle's violent murder, another woman is similarly assaulted.

Gemma Boyd, an attractive 17-yr old, is found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Although the cause of death was a broken neck, there is little to indicate whether she fell or was pushed. She was found in a vacant house that her estate agent mother and step-father were selling. The autopsy reveals that Gemma had already had a child and was pregnant. The police think that Gemma's boyfriend is their man but when someone else is revealed as the father in the latest pregnancy, Sam thinks there is a far more complex set of relationships at play. Sam's sister Wyn visits from Ireland with big news: she is going to get married. Sam's relationship with James however takes an unfortunate turn and seems to come to an end.

The 2 nd part of A Fallen Idol. A 17 year old attractive teen was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in an empty house for sale. Family dynamics and a boyfriend are the focus here. Meanwhile the Pathologist makes a decision about her boyfriend.

Sam Ryan looks into the death of Maggie Collins who died of a heroin overdose. Sadly, her body wasn't discovered for several days and in that time, her infant daughter died of dehydration. Soon after Maggie's death Stephen Jackson, a small-time dealer and addict, is killed in an explosion in his home. The autopsy reveals that both of them died of overdoses from the same batch of heroin and Sam begins to doubt that their deaths were accidental. When another small-time dealer is killed, the police think they have either vigilantes or a turf war on their hands. What they have is something far more complex that involves one of their own.

Are the deaths linked to a drug war or to vigilantes?

When Philip Nelson is killed in a farm accident, the pathologists conclude they have a straightforward case of man vs. machine and the machine won. Sam makes an error however and soon finds evidence that points to murder. The police suspect his handyman, all the more so when they discover he was having an affair with Nelson's wife. When the murders continue however, Sam uncovers evidence that connect at least some of the men to events in Northern Ireland when they served in the army together many years before. Sam is more than a little surprised when Charlie, an old friend, sounds her out about taking up a new Chair in Forensic Pathology at London University. DI Michael Connor and his wife take a stab at a reconciliation but he finds it difficult to forgive her infidelity and realizes he has feelings for Sam.

Sam looks for connections between Ian Neal and a killing in Northern Ireland in 1985.

Leo is called in by his old college friend,psychiatrist Sean Delaney,now a cancer-stricken alcoholic. Sean was treating inspirational,deeply religious teenager Eve Gilston,who felt neglected by her family ,and the verdict of whose death,alone in bed,apparently of arrhythmic death syndrome Sean does not believe. Accompanied by down-to-earth sergeant Brooks Leo interviews Eve's parents,lapsed Catholics Beth and Tony,wondering if the family is prone to the rare heart condition Long QT Syndrome,though John,their blind younger son refuses to be tested. Sean tells Leo that,at their last session, Eve believed that she was possessed by evil and soon afterwards Leo and sergeant Brooks find evidence that a priest performed an exorcism on her.

Shocked by the news of the exorcism Sean joins Leo in visiting Father Jacobs though he tells them that he did not perform the exorcism and Nikki tracks down the nun,Sister Landsley,who did so,only to find she has killed herself. Leo believes the trauma of the exorcism triggered Eve's death but then he learns from Beth how Eve thought that she was possessed after passing on the measles which blinded him to John when they were younger. With the knowledge that his grandmother killed herself John believes that possession runs in the family and now he is host to the demons, leading to a further exorcism.