Foyle battles to save a young man accused of high treason from the executioner's noose in a case that will shatter his personal world to the core.

While African American GIs wait for transport home, racial tensions run high at the army base in Hastings, particularly when a black American serviceman becomes romantically involved with a white local woman.

It's June 1945 and Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle is still on duty as they are unable to find a replacement for him. He's approached by Brigadier Timothy Wilson, his former commanding officer from his own military service in World War I, who is looking for a Russian POW, Ivan Spiakov, who has escaped and is believed to have been seen in the Hastings area.