Christopher Redmayne is a true Restoration man. After the destruction wrought by the Great Fire, he is also one of the architects working to restore London to its previous splendour. Jonathan Bale is a Puritan constable with an unshakeable sense of right and wrong which has made him an excellent upholder of the law and a fierce critic of the newly restored Court. At first sight Redmayne and Bale would seem to each other to embody all that irritates them most in their fellow man. However, thrown together by a fatal stabbing, they will have to bury their differences - or risk the murderer claiming an unthinkable victim...