Kavanagh Q.C.

Michael Woodley and Annie Fisk, two young lovers, have fled to London from the stifling, middle-class rural community where they were brought up, and where Michael, found guilty of setting fire to a doctor's surgery, was given a suspended sentence. Annie is doing her best to beat a drug problem with Michael's help and support, but one day when Michael returns to their flat, he discovers that she is using drugs again. His patience snaps and he storms out of the house, noticed by a district nurse visiting the couple's elderly neighbour. Soon after a loud explosion at the lovers' flat leaves Michael numb with shock and he tells the nurse and police that he killed Annie. Charged with murder, Michael is defended by Kavanagh, who is baffled by the boy's reluctance to explain what happened and by the emotional frigidity of his parents. A second pathologist's report reveals Annie was pregnant when she died. Kavanagh's dilemma is should he tell his client and further burden him with guilt, or k