Is Father Carey saint or sinner? A compassionate comforter of the sick or a heavy drinker not to be trusted with secrets inside or outside the confessional? Opinion at St. Cuthbert's Hospital was divided. Michael Donovan, paralyzed after a rugby accident, viewed him as the only person who had tried to give him support but there were others who both hated and feared the priest. When Father Carey is poisoned, Donovan loses the will to live. On a respirator and locked inside his paralyzed body, there is nothing he can do about it. Or is there? He may be unable to speak or move but there is nothing inactive about his mind as he attempts to track down the killer.