After a seven-month long suspension, Frost is back on the job. His first case is a floater in Denton River, with £6000 in his pockets. The man also carries with him a list with four sets of mysterious numbers, and the keys to two different cars. The local dance competion is the venue for another drama: a missing con man who recently switched dance partner, and a woman with a Hollywood name and a terrible temper - who keeps on ordering new fridges for her dance partners... But Frost is more interested in getting his teeth back in order after a particularly vicious lollipop.

The murder of a widow soon gives Frost a chance to prove his worth again, but the investigation only reveals an intriguing web of deceit, and it isn't until a forensic psychologist joins the team that they realise a serial killer is at work.

A bus driver and conductress are abducted. Frost is unhappy at being paired with DS Marsh, who made a complaint about him 15 years before.

Three naked bodies are found buried, and laid out in the shape of a triangle. Meanwhile, there is trouble when a multi-millionaire businessman decides to relocate his corporate headquarters to Denton.