Lawyer Eric Ward has agreed to represent the interests of a protest group campaigning against a local industrial waste disposal site, but an explosion at the plant leaves his client dead. Joe Paulson wasn't a criminal exactly - but his after-hours activities raiding the dustbins of the great and good, from politicians to high-flying businessmen, meant he was despised by many for the secrets he held in his grasp. But who feared the nightwalker enough to kill him? Whilst the police struggle to separate facts from rumours, Ward's marriage slowly unravels before his eyes as the past continues to dog his footsteps. And when an old favour is called in, he may have no choice but to put his own life in danger...