1936. Lord Peter Wimsey has returned from his honeymoon, eager to settle into married life with his cherished new wife, the novelist Harriet Vane.

As they become part of fashionable London society they encounter the glamorous socialite Rosamund Harwell and her wealthy impressario husband Laurence. Unlike the Wimseys, Rosamund and Laurence are not in love - and all too soon, one of them is dead.