A series of brutal sex murders disturbingly similar to the pattern of Superintendent Jane Tennison's (Dame Helen Mirren's) first major case leads to the awful suggestion that she may have caught the wrong man the first time.
For years, a blackmailer has been preying on the weaknesses of others throughout London. When Holmes hears of the utter misery this mystery man is creating, he adopts a campaign to thwart his evil scheming. The campaign astonishes Dr. Watson by its strangeness and finds Holmes falling in love.
Jane Tennison is a detective chief inspector assigned to Southampton Row Police Station in Central London. She is repeatedly passed over for major cases but, following the death of a senior investigating officer, she is grudgingly given the opportunity to take over his latest homicide investigation. The crime involves the brutal murder of a young woman whose body has been badly mutilated.
Johnny has joined the army because he likes canoeing, but ends up in a war-torn city and is compromised into helping the enemy. However, desertion will not be a solution, and he finds himself more distressed than ever.