Francis H is an undertaker in the London Borough of West Ham in the 1940s. The Second World War is in full swing and the Borough is being pounded on a nightly basis by the German Luftwaffe. Francis H is a World War 1 veteran so he also has to deal with the continuing fears and delusions that still haunt him from the trenches of Flanders. One night, in the middle of a raid, Francis meets what appears to be a madman running across the rubble screaming about being stabbed. But Francis can see no sign of blood on the man, so he passes him by. However, two days later the man's body turns up at Francis' parlour. So begins a frightening sequence of events that has Francis H pitted against violent thugs, an almost impenetrable network of secrets and his own fragile sanity.