The Harrow is the last of a dying breed, a local muck-raking magazine that geefully shines a light on scandal, crime and petty political corruption. John Salmon, the morally murky editor in chief, and his small assortment of misfit journalists, have been trying to keep The Harrow from extinction for years, but the writing seems finally to be on the wall. It can't compete with an endless stream of online content, it's made powerful enemies on both the streets and in office, and its swashbuckling investigative journalism is a relic of the past.

Until that is, Danny Roth turns up, looking for a job. Danny's fresh out of university, reluctant to rely on his well-connected parents and desperate to prove himself to anyone who'll listen. The Harrow could use some cheap labour, so John grudgingly takes him on, but Danny wants more than the office work that he's given: he wants to report on a recent and brutal gangland murder. As Danny sucks John into his investigation, and as they find that it seems to dovetail with John's own investigation into a council cover-up, the pair find themselves in the middle of a story that could be a matter of life and death for The Harrow - and a matter of life and death for its journalists...