 Morse and Lewis investigate the death of Dr. Julian Dear, a senior fellow at an Oxford college. Dear suffered a fatal heart attack during what appeared to be a mugging and the attack was witnessed by the College s Master, Matthew Copley-Barnes. Read was to participate in a debate on the evening of his death and Morse starts to wonder if anyone may have known he had a bad heart. Morse soon learns that Copley-Barnes has been receiving hate mail and that the College has large investments in Corby International, a major agricultural/chemical firm. These facts and the interest of a well-known journalist writing an article about the Master leads Morse to a complex cover up of scientific information as well as the discovery of a long-hidden tragedy.