Detective inspector Matthew Venn returns to his hometown of Devon, with his gay husband Jonathan Roberts, to attend his father's funeral, having been kept away mainly by his mother, whose devotion goes to the evangelical sect which shunned him as 'sodomite'. He is in charge of the investigation into the murder of forty year old Simon Walden, who's body was found on the beach. His team discover that his name was misspelled wrong, Walden was responsible for a drunk crash which called a wealthy couple's daughter. The mother had been seeing Walden, but didn't have an affair. Venn attempts to reconcile with his mother after his father passes away, and visits priest Dennis Stephenson, who gives him his father's bible. Venn's mother's friend Ruth Shapland reports her daughter Rosa missing, and during questioning, reveals that Walden had started attending church meetings. An emergency call from Rosa makes Venn presume she was kidnapped.
—KGF Vissers