Nottingham, 1997. Sarah Bone, Labour MP, is about to face the election battle of her life for a safe Conservative seat. On the night she celebrates the upturning of a wrongful murder conviction for Ed Clarke – her personal triumph – he sexually assaults her and brags of committing the killings. As Polly Wright, sister of the murdered man demands justice at Sarah Bone's constituency office, her obsession with the case deepens. Is she responsible for a terrible injustice?

Nick Cane is fresh out of the same prison as Ed Clarke, having served five years for growing wholesale amounts of cannabis in the caves beneath his old flat. A former teacher, political activist and love of Sarah Bone's life, the only option open for him in 1997 is driving a cab illegally for his brother's firm – where he meets Ed Clarke again as a colleague and becomes Polly Wright's casual lover. He has a mystery of his own eating away at him: who was it who told the police about his failsafe dope-growing operation all those years ago?

The old chemistry still sparks as Nick reconnects with Sarah and together they attempt to expose Ed Clarke's guilt. But Ed Clarke may not be the simple villain he presents himself as – and, when the election of a generation heats up, both Bone and Cane's convictions are tested to the limit.

David Belbin