Young solicitor Nicholas Turner, plagued by financial problems, falls from the roof of his house as his wife witnesses the event through the front windows. As Barnaby and Scott investigate the possibility of foul play, Turner's neighbor and friend, Jack Wilmot mysteriously disappears. Two eccentric friends of Wilmot's, an obsessive wine snob and an unsuccessful game show host, fall under suspicion as Barnaby begins to turn up details of an elaborate fraud involving all four men. before long, DCI Barnaby has two bizarre murders on his hands amid a flurry of broken and empty wine bottles.