Jim Taggart attends the wedding of social worker Jane Ross and jailbird Charlie Forbes. Janie Ross is later found murdered and a chain of seemingly unrelated events begins.
A small-time Glasgow thief gets his hands on a shipment full of explosives which he plans to use for a daring robbery but has to contend with an IRA fixer sent to retrieve it. Jardine infiltrates the role-playing club Janie was a part of.
After the Ross' cabin is blown up and a recluse heiress buried under her extensive newspaper collection Taggart finally connects the dots between the IRA explosives and the murder of the role-playing social worker.
A body is dredged up from the bottom of the Clyde, setting Taggart and Jardine off on an investigation which takes them beyond Glasgow into the Scottish Highlands.
A seemingly disturbed young man keeps confessing to murders he clearly didn't commit driving Taggart to distraction as he has to deal with a husband who killed his prostitute wife and a hit-and-run.
A local parliamentary candidate notable for supporting the death penalty and her agent are found half-naked and dead. Taggart suspects the agent's wife and her American boyfriend of being guilty but can't prove it.
