Just months away from retirement, Chief Superintendent Frances Harman verges on overload as she takes on evermore responsibilities. Her list of priorities doesn't seem to have a top, middle or bottom anymore; everything seems to be top priority. First there is the puzzling case of 'Elise' the unidentified woman found unconscious at a roadside, who's condition of persistent vegetative state means that if the hospital turns off her life support her attacker will be guilty of murder then there's Fran's irritable parents who must be cared for, a child abduction case that must be quickly resolved, the disappearance of her only witness and the growing affection that she and long-term colleague, Mark Turner, seem to share for one another...