DI Jack Frost investigates the murder of Nick Walder who was part of a group of saboteurs trying to disrupt the local hunt. DC Clive Barnard, the Chief Constable's nephew, is re-assigned to Denton CID. Suspicion falls on many, including the local hunt organizers and some of the saboteurs themselves as there was a schism within the group. A second saboteur, a local landscape gardener, is also murdered but when police uncover several barrels of antiques carefully packed and buried at the garden centre, the investigation takes a different turn. One of the hunt members, Stephen Milmore, owns an art gallery and also employs Ruth, the daughter of hunt organizer Alex Ormrod. Frost now needs to connect these events to identify the murderer.