Croydon, 1940, and terror stalks the skies as German bombers make their first raids over southern England. Terror stalks Saltdene School for Girls too as a heartless murderer first bumps off Spanish-teacher and Nazi-sympathizer Alice Everett on her way back from a trip to Paris, then accounts for her best friend, 'Leafy' Green. Not everyone is preoccupied with the murders though: Hatchett and Lycett, once schoolboy friends and now fellow-masters at the local boys school, each have their eyes on Norma. Which one will she choose? And what difference will it make when she discovers the terrible childhood secret that the two men share?