Finales de los años setenta. En una zona obrera del barrio de Richmond, una mujer de raza negra muere atropellada en un suceso que la policía atribuyó a un desgraciado accidente. Todo el vencindario, excepto la señora Ranelagh, la última persona que estuvo con ella, aceptó la escueta versión policial. Sin embargo, veinte años después, la señora Ranelagh ha vuelto al lugar de los hechos con un único y firme próposito: reconstruir lo sucedido en aquella noche lluviosa que todos los que vivian en el barrio parecen tener motivos para olvidar.
With private security firms providing bodyguards in war zones, the emergence of a sexual psychopath among mercenaries goes unnoticed. When five women are brutally murdered in Sierra Leone, journalist Connie Burns questions the arrest of three rebel soldiers, but her concerns fall on deaf ears. In the aftermath of a brutal civil war, the rape and murder of women are dismissed, and confessions from child soldiers are coerced. Connie suspects a foreigner, a man claiming to be a former SAS member and now a bodyguard for a Lebanese diamond trader, is responsible. She recalls him from Kinshasa, where he served as a mercenary, and believes he exploits the chaos of war to indulge in sadistic fantasies against women. Two years later, her efforts to expose him in Iraq lead to devastating consequences. Traumatized and forced into hiding in England after enduring three days of conditioning in a Baghdad cellar, Connie seeks to reclaim her former self. In her isolation, she befriends Jess Derbyshire, a reclusive neighbor, and finds strength in their shared struggles. Determined to unmask the serial killer once more, Connie knows she is putting herself in danger, as he will inevitably come looking for her.