It is November 1917. Initially, in the loyal Dominion of Canada, people are mostly eager to support the Motherland and fight for the Empire, but the carnage is horrendous and with enforced conscription, the enthusiasm for war is dimming. William Murdoch is a widower, a senior detective who, thanks to the new temperance laws, spends his time tracking down bootleggers and tipplers. As we enter the story, Jack, Murdoch's estranged son, now twenty-one, has returned from France after being wounded and gassed at the Battle of Passchendaele. The night after Jack arrives home, a young man is found stabbed to death in the impoverished area of Toronto known as the Ward. Soon after, Murdoch has to deal with a tragic suicide, also a young man. Two more murders follow in quick succession. The only common denominator is that all of the men were exempted from conscription. Increasingly worried that Jack knows more than he is letting on, Murdoch must solve these crimes before more innocents lose their lives.