John Calder is a wealthy and respected industrialist, his wife Margaret is in public relations and active in Tory politics, and their two children are at university. The family is a pillar of upper middle-class society. But few are aware that Calder was born in Czechoslovakia, arriving in Britain in 1969 as a political refugee, a supporter of Dubcek and opponent of the communist Husak regime. Only Christopher White, a member of the security services, knows that Calder, formerly Miloslav Kolder, betrayed a Czech resistance network to the Soviet GRU to save his brother Email from a long jail sentence or possible execution. White decides to blackmail Calder.Margaret Calder is selected to stand as a Conservative candidate for an impending by-election. Fearful of wrecking his wife's political ambitions and in defence of his own cherished status in British society, John Calder gives in to the blackmailer's demands and begins paying out large amounts of money to secure his silence. Yet White is not only a blackmailer but a habitual child molester.

His friend and colleague Tony Walker suspects him of having molested his six-year old daughter, but lacking proof he begins stalking White in search of evidence. He discovers that White is extorting money from Calde, so he resolves to render him harmless as a sexual pervert, and to take over from him the blackmailing of Calder.Walker's plans are foiled when he inadvertently kills White while at his flat. When Warren Dean, White's courier in the blackmailing business, surprises him at the scene of the crime, Walker murders him as well, to eliminate him as a witness. When the killings come to light, the security services, in conjunction with the police, launch an investigation. Walker has left too many tracks, and suspicion focuses on him as the murderer of both White and Dean. Information about Calder's past has leaked out, however, and the Calders have to face the media.