In 1947 Ray Knox is 20, a merchant seaman and a man with a past. Sam Thrift is an ex US serviceman who has returned to New Zealand in search of a child he thinks must exist. But Sam is having memory problems. He needs a junior detective, someone to take notes. Ray, who wants to be a writer, recognises Sam's search as a mystery -- but has no idea just how and dangerous it will turn out to be.