Ex-security guard Joe Einegan is a working class social climber, recently promoted to detective sergeant. After the rigours of his first case, he's had enough. Against the wishes of his DCI, he goes AOWL, and buys a ticket on board the luxurious Empress of Ontario, planning to visit his cousin in Montreal. A month later, when the liner docks at Liverpool, a young crewman, called Patrick, disappears, and Joe is thrown into a missing person case. Annoyed by his lack of progress, his superior officer, gives him forty eight hours. If Joe doesn't find Patrick soon, he could lose everything - his rank, his new fashionable address and his Lotus Cortina.