A champion rower is thrown into the lake in celebration and never comes up again. Called in to investigate the cause of drowning, Dr Lucien Blake soon suspects foul play.

A young woman is shot dead at a bonfire night celebration, and the police immediately arrest an Aboriginal boy she knew for her murder. He was standing near her with a gun in his hand - it looks cut and dried. But Blake realises there's more to the murder than meets the eye and challenges the racist bias of not only the police but the whole town.