When Edward Latimer is accused by a pretty girl of assaulting her in a train, and two unimpeachable witnesses say they saw him do it, he's in deep water. This is only the beginning of his troubles, for a few days later the girl's dead body is found in the lonely nearby saltings and all the evidence points to Edward as her killer. It takes all the intelligence of his sons, Quentin and Hugh, and the wit of Hugh's fiancée, Cynthia, to produce an alternative theory about the murder—and an alternative suspect. With persistence and unshakeable faith they unravel the plot and in a dramatic reconstruction demonstrate the incredible truth.