The story kicks off on Hartcliffe council estate in Bristol during the early 1980s. It follows Steven Knight, a working-class boy who has his motorbike stolen the day he buys it. Teaming up with his scoundrel friends he desperately tries to track it down before it's gone for good.

On the North Yorkshire Moors, Abel, Head Gamekeeper, discovers the thing that is eating his grouse.

Holly Shaw wants to prove her writing talent in a reading of her romance novel. But she achieves the exact opposite with the cynical reporter Aaron Kingsley. On the way to her car, Holly is attacked. Her papers, her books, her coat and her shoes are found by the police on the riverbank.