When an expensively dressed, well-spoken Englishman walks into the shabby Dundee office of Allan Linton & Associates, Inquiry Agents, it's the promise of a hefty fee that convinces Allan to take the case on. The Englishman wants Allan to trace a missing person. The only clue is a photo of a young woman in school uniform – and the name Tina Lamont. Trouble is, who knows if that's her real name or even if she's from Dundee.

As Allan and Niddrie, his only Associate – ex-army and with skills that don't quite match his claim of being in the Pay Corps – get the investigation underway, they find no trace of the girl anywhere. But when a dead body turns up, the two men realise they're not the only ones on Tina's trail. The news that serious London criminals are also hunting the girl ratchets events up to a deeply disturbing level – and that's before Dundee's biggest drugs dealer gets involved.