A body is found shackled to the upper branches of the tallest tree in Ireland. The victim is a "Tinker," one of the mysterious class of itinerant travelers who have roamed Ireland for generations. The murder bears all the signs of being the work of Desmond Bacon, "the Toddler," brutal king of Ireland''s heroin trade. But who was the deceased and why was he killed? The answer lies with a Tinker woman named Biddy Nevins, who may be the only person able to put Bacon away--that is, if Peter McGarr and his crew can get to her before the Toddler does.