When a young woman knocks on Palmer's front door one evening and asks him to find her an alibi for a particular evening sixteen months previously, Palmer thinks it will be an interesting case.

Time is of the essence and Palmer wastes no time in getting started. Within hours his worst fears are realised and he begins to understand that this will be anything but a routine case.

Palmer had no idea when he took on the case that finding an alibi for the young woman would be the least of his problems.

To Damien Palmer, the request seemed pointless. The police had found Heather Burnston standing over the body of her husband. The kitchen was covered in his blood and she was still holding the murder weapon when the police knocked the door down. Yet she protested to her solicitor, John Manning, that she was not guilty. So it was that one morning in early spring, Damien Palmer decided to accept the solicitor’s request to investigate this hopeless case.