 Dr. Helena Bellew is charged with murder in the care of an elderly cancer patient after his family learns that the doctor is to inherit the old man s estate. She is accused of administering an overdose of pain killers but the science is not clear cut on the issue. Judge Deed s handling of the case brings him again into conflict with Sir Ian Richardson and the Lord Chancellor s Department. In family court, Judge Deed hears the case of an HIV-positive woman who refuses to allow her child to be tested. The local council takes the child into care as a result. Deed s father is slowly dying and wants to tell him something important but lapses into a coma before he can do so. It s left to Deed s sister to tell him a family secret that affects him greatly.