It's a steamy summer Ottawa day when Dr Cate Spencer is called out to the nitrate
facility to investigate an apparent suicide. The eerie building is filled with
deteriorating nitrate film that could literally spontaneously combust. When
Cate's life is threatened by a stray spark, she suspects the suicide might
be murder. Despite pressure from the police to pronounce on cause quickly, Cate
is bloody-minded enough to keep investigating. Whether she's looking for
answers because of her dedication to justice, or as a distraction from the
grief she feels over her brother's recent death, her inquiries plunge her into
a world of military secrets, contentious Indigenous protests and a seventy-year-old
mystery with deadly implications.