The new tattoos on his face - they held him down in the nick and did them for him - make Stone look like a scary individual. People give him a wide berth. But he's trying to rebuild his life, he really is. But the battered Asian girl he finds in the doorway of his basement flat drags him straight back to the old world. She's come to Hull - Hull - from California, looking for her best friend, who has vanished after her letters suddenly stopped. She's beautiful, this Ginny, and Stone is, deep down, kind, so yes, he'll help. But soon he's right back among the vicious low-life of this city of docks and the opportunities they provide. Before long the terrible truth begins to emerge.