A boy accidentally shoots a friend with a gun he found in the rubble of a destroyed building. The gun turns out to be a clue in a ten-year-old murder case.

Harrington Brande, a British diplomat who recently broke up with his wife, is stationed in a small coastal town in Spain with his son, Nicholas. Harrington is unreasonably possessive of Nicholas and becomes jealous when he begins to form a close friendship with Jose, their gentle gardener.