Promoted young to the position of Crown Court Judge - because of his ability, but perhaps also for certain questions of political convenience - it's time for Daniel Savage to settle down. Perhaps his marriage is happy enough after all. Teenage children require a father's attention. His career demands the most responsible behaviour. Day by day Judge Savage presides over those whose double lives have been exposed. He must be above suspicion.

But why does his daughter refuse to move to their spacious new house? Why does a young Korean woman keep phoning him to beg for help? As the most tangled lives are ironed out in court, Daniel Savage's own existence descends into a mess of violence and confusion. English society has fragmented into an incomprehensible public gallery where every face conceals a different culture. And those with whom we have the greatest intimacy are suddenly the most frighteningly mysterious.