Judge Julian Whitehall is a man of the highest moral integrity. He is approaching retirement age but still has a little time to serve. Suddenly, to the enormous surprise of everybody, he retires early. It transpires that an old friend has asked him to lie on his behalf. Deciding that loyalty to a friend is more important than loyalty to the public, he helps his friend but immediately resigns. The judge cannot get used to retirement so he spends his time studying cases of possible miscarriages of justice. The drama which then unfolds makes a formidable and fascinating adventure which has twists and turns right to the very last page.