1581: young St Andrews academic Hew Cullan is unhappy with his life & disillusioned with the law. After his father's death he is invited by the advocate Richard Cunningham to complete his legal education in Edinburgh as Richard's pupil at the bar. Among his father's things Hew finds a manuscript entitled ' In Defence of the Law' directed to the Edinburgh printer Christian Hall. At first he resists its influence but when a young girl is found dead on the beach at St Andrews he is left unsettled & confused. He resolves to take the book to press & agrees to Richard's offer. Embarking on his new life in the capital he falls in love. His relationships are fraught with lies & secrets & lead to brutal murder on the borough muir. Hew suspects a link with the dead girl on the beach. As he begins his desperate search to find the killer he finds that the truth lies closer to home.