Newly promoted Detective Inspector Dave Slater is dismayed when he's handed his first case in his new role. This isn't the first time he's had to deal with dug-up old bones - and things get even worse when he gets to the scene to discover the skeleton is that of a little boy. Along with new partner DS Samantha Brearley, known as Watson, he tracks down a couple whose only son went missing years previously. But they are adamant that the remains found, and even a distinctive antique silver pendant discovered beside the body, can't have anything to do with their missing son. When DNA results back up their assertion, Slater finds himself at a crossroads, the evidence pointing every which way. But there's an unfortunate fact about digging - once you start, you never know what else you might find. And Slater soon begins to realise, there could be more than the bones of a little boy lying buried deep in the past.