Once a blacksmith, now famous and respected as a newspaperman, Valentine Clark knows everyone who is anyone in the racing world. Aged, confused, blind, and dying, he harbors a daunting secret that he is desperate to be rid of and makes his last confession to his visiting film-director friend, Thomas Lyon, whom in his delirium he mistakes for a priest. Unburdened and at peace, Valentine passes away, yet his legacy remains, guarded by Thomas.

On...

Ned Talbot has worked all his life as a book-maker so he knows not to expect any sympathy from the punters as they count their winnings at Royal Ascot. When a man steps forward from the crowd claiming to be his father, Ned is thrown into turmoil. He'd been told that both his parents died when he was a baby. Barely an hour later, his father stabbed by an unknown assailant. Before dying, he warns Ned to "be very careful." But of whom? Of what? Ned finds...