It is 7 August 1945, and the atomic bomb has just been dropped on Hiroshima. In Ranpur, Barbie is dead. Sarah learns to her great distress that Ronald Merrick, with Colonel Layton's approval, is about to announce his engagement to Susan. She turns for help to an old friend - Nigel Rowan, an officer on the Governor's staff in Ranpur and a school friend of Guy Perron. Rowan knows more about Merrick's past than anyone, but he retreats behind a wall of official silence.