DSI Iain Barclay (Bonneville) heads up a team of police that are looking into the disappearance of two boys. He calls in the assistance of an old colleague DS Amy Foster (McTeer) to help in the investigation. The perpetrators turn out to be radical members of the anti-abortion movement, who threaten to kill the two children unless the BBC screens an anti-abortion propaganda film. Barclay, Foster and their colleagues must race against time to apprehend the kidnappers before they can carry out their threats. This led Britain's Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, Pro-Life Alliance and kindred groups to claim that the portrayal of the anti-abortionists was "distorted". Hugh Bonneville and Janet McTeer reprised their roles as the dysfunctional detective double-act following on from the 2007 series Five Days.