 There has been a dance at the youth club in Aidensfield and 15-year old Maureen asks PC Bradley if he would walk her home. Bradley thinks it is only a schoolgirl prank and tells her to ask a boy of her own age. She has a crush on him, but she also claims that somebody is following her. And a couple of nights later Maureen disappears on her way home from the club. The new sergeant, Raymond Craddock, arrives at Ashfordly police station. He is very narrow-minded and goes strictly by the book and when his mind has been made up it stays that way - even if he is wrong.