Det. Superintendent Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) has been transferred to Manchester and is about to embark on one of the toughest times in her life. Initially asked to lecture school children on law and order she is soon demanding a meatier task. The murder of a drug dealer is the crime she is expected to solve but when a 14 year old boy confesses to the killing despite no evidence to connect him to the crime Tennison's instinct tells her there is a more likely prime suspect.