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Eighteen-year-old Taylor has not been seen for almost two days, and while this might not be so unusual for a young adult, he is reported missing by the care unit where he lives rather than his family. The unit’s description of him as vulnerable immediately raises police concern, particularly as he has continued to live in care since turning 18.

At Drylaw Police Station in Edinburgh, Inspector Alison Lawrie launches an immediate investigation. With Taylor not responding to any calls, police visit his adoptive parents’ house to find out whether they have seen him, but their messages aren’t getting through either. Taylor moved into care at the age of 14 after his parents felt they were unable to keep him safe. Police scour any friends or contacts who might have heard from Taylor, and their concern grows when they discover that he is drawn to the homeless community. This is all the more worrying as Taylor has recently starting transitioning from female to male.

Police enquiries deepen when they find a new person of interest in the investigation - a man named Danny. When officers visit Danny's flat, he tells them that he doesn’t know Taylor, but as the days tick by and police gain access to Taylor’s phone records, they realise that Danny has not been entirely honest with them and that the two have been in touch.

With Taylor now missing for five days, fears increase that Danny is hiding something, and that Taylor may have come to harm. Dealing with reports of children missing from Edinburgh’s care units is a constant pressure for the city’s police. Over 1,200 Scottish children go missing from care each year, and the responsibility for finding and returning them safely falls to officers such as Sergeant Stevie McMinn.

Sergeant McMinn is on duty in the south of the city when another alarming report of a child missing from care comes in. Thirteen-year-old Ava has failed to return to her care unit after school, and night is approaching. She has no phone on her, but her father, who does not have guardianship of her, has passed on an unknown phone number that she has used to contact him. When Sergeant McMinn checks the number, he is immediately worried when he discovers it is linked to a 38-year-old man.

Officers are sent to the man’s address, but he denies knowing who Ava is and refuses to let them search his flat. Sergeant McMinn is on his way out to join the search when he learns that officers there have intercepted a 13-year-old girl leaving the man’s flat. She is carrying Ava’s coat and travel card, but she is not Ava. The girl denies all knowledge of Ava, only intensifying police fears. After repeatedly denying police entry to search the property, and under pressure from Sergeant McMinn, the man eventually allows the senior officer a check of his flat to establish that neither girl is there. As it approaches midnight, police are left with a mystery to solve: what does the intercepted girl really know, where has Ava gone, and is she still at risk?