It is summer, 1981. At a wedding party being given by the Napier family in the grounds of what had once been their house in Cornwall, Chris Napier, the bride's uncle, is shocked to recognize a drunken intruder. It is his childhood friend, Nicky Lanyon, whom Christ has not seen since his father....
Michael Lanyon, was hanged for the murder in 1947 of Chris's great-uncle, Joshua Carnoweth. It was the inheritance of Joshua's fortune that led the Napier family to their present state of affluence. But when Nicky hangs himself, Chris soon realizes that his understanding of the events surrounding the murder is no understanding at all.