After clearing all suspects of a power plant on the mainland following the disappearance of confidential documents, Drake visits an island off the Scottish coast. There, on a bottle on which he arranged handling by several persons, he finds the fingerprints of a man, wanted for socialist activity 20 years ago. The problem is this individual supposedly had died some time ago. Will this clue lead to the missing papers, and how will he explain a dead man's prints freshly appearing?
Visiting Russian fishermen, and the island's protecting some secret activity add red herrings to the plot line. Small community provincialism also hinders Drake's progress. But the eventual resolution has an ironic bite, and we wonder if Drake feels that justice is really being served.