A group of high school students gather on the Isle of Skye's remote Coral Beach for a hedonistic night of partying to celebrate the passing of their finals. The new millennium is on the horizon and the future beckons, promising new hope and a fresh wind of optimism.

In the coming days, many will leave the island for work or to study on the mainland, whereas others will remain on Skye and forge a more traditional path much as their families have done for centuries before them.

That is... all but one...

D.I. Duncan McAdam is dispatched home to the Misty Isle. A body has been found buried in a remote location on the Waternish peninsula. Well preserved in the peat, Isla Matheson - missing for the better part of two decades - is revealed to a shocked island community. A teenage runaway is dead... and no one is talking...

Joining a small team of detectives, Duncan is tasked with revisiting those who knew Isla, those who cared for her... and those with the potential to kill her... In a remote community well used to settling scores among themselves, will they trust one of their own when he asks questions or will they persevere with the façade of ignorance?