In an isolated mill-house, owned by the Copeland family, the delicate peace is shattered when five intruders break in, armed with knives. The leader of the gang is the self-styled `Stag' and soon a group of adults, along with an eight-year-old boy, find themselves his hostages . . . The story unfolds through the police investigation that follows, as flash-backs to specific events and the relationship that develops between Stag and one of the hostages - Julia Branscombe - a senior lecturer in criminology at the LSE and adviser on youth crime to the Metropolitan Police. Despite the gang's attempts to mask their faces and voices, she recognises that most of them are juveniles and that their reason for being there is revenge rather than theft. Its not the open and shut case that the Copeland family and the police would like it to be . . . Faced with the fact that Julia's story differs markedly from that of the other hostages, the police suspect she's suffering from Stockholm Syndrome - a bond of attachment that develops between a captor and captive. This perception is heightened when the Copeland family accuse her of receiving special treatment, and by her own admission that she made promises to Stag. In the end, the question for everyone, including Julia herself, is - how reliable is any victim's memory in the aftermath of violent crime?