Jeannie Hearne is spirited away in the middle of the night with no explanation. Her body is found the next day in the countryside, alerting the attention of the Oxford City Police. Endeavour may be suspended, but with the case been so close to his home, he begins a investigation of his own.

April 1967. As spring blooms, the passing of artist Simon Hallward in a horrendous house... fire leaves Oxford City Police baffled as to the cause of the blaze. When a young housewife dies, seemingly of the same mysterious 'tummy bug' that has seen half of Chief Superintendent Bright's men go on Sick Leave, DC Endeavour Morse's investigation leads him to an inner... city supermarket, Richardson's, owned by a wealthy family of the same name, descended from a line of Quakers.

Early June 1967. A missing persons case - that of Dutch au pair Ingrid Hjort - proves far from routine, pulling Endeavour into the dueling worlds of Oxford scienti?c academia, the city's vast parks, Night School and the untamed wilderness of the Oxfordshire countryside.

Mid June 1967. Morse finds himself occupied with unexpected strife in his personal life - recruited by an old college mentor into investigating matters more suited to private eyes. Asked to monitor the movements of Lorimer's estranged younger wife, a natural spark between two vulnerable souls is struck. With change in the air, and a shakeup in Oxford's criminal underworld signalling an uncertain future, the young detective is set on a path that will ultimately lead to heartbreak.