In a gloomy mansion in the west of Scotland the seven members of the Good Comrades Club are dining. One of them receives a curious death threat, an envelope containing seven orange pips. He dies the next night in a car crash. At his funeral another member receives an envelope with six pips, and ten days later his body is recovered from the sea. Sherlock Holmes is called in.

When Nick Parsons appears to be murdered his wife Libby is tried and convicted. Six years later Libby is paroled and with the help of Travis Lehman (her parole officer) she sets out to find her son and the truth behind the “murder”.