A young man is charged with receiving a stolen Rubens painting - undoubtedly stolen and found hidden in his room. He seems to be guilty - but Antony Maitland, Q.C. has his doubts. He's intrigued by the prevalence of art thefts and the violence and death that has taken place apparently to conceal the leader of the art thieves' gang. In the dock is a woman charged with the murder of her husband and Maitland becomes Assistant Prosecuting Counsel - but he's not interested in establishing the guilt of the accused. He has a secondary objective!