When a tree is uprooted in a storm, a skeleton is found and Terri Morgan has to use all her expertise to try and find out who he is. Housewife Linda Barton soon becomes the prime suspect although strangely, she seems more interested in getting her elderly mother Helen Thomas committed than helping the Mid-Warwickshire police find her ex-husband Colin who walked out on her years ago. Later the police discover that Helen was a battered wife and killed her husband in later life when he became ill. The discovery of his body brings the past back to Linda about the suffering her mother had to endure at the hands of her father. When he disappeared, her mother told her he had left them but she had, in fact, buried him after poisoning him. Convinced it's the only way to stop her mother being charged with his murder, Linda sets about trying to have Helen committed before the law catches up with her. However, deciding that Helen is too old to be arrested, DI Jackson shows his compassionate sid