Rosa Makepeace is a young, wannabe reporter on Edinburgh's evening paper, the Dispatch. It is New Year's Eve 1955 and she receives news of the murder of a local prostitute. Rosa, fuelled by her ambition for a scoop, is determined to unearth all she can about the story. She must compete with her colleagues and prove herself in the male-dominated newsroom; Jack, the volatile author, is fiercely determined that their paper must break the story, Mike is resolute that no female will beat him to a by-line; whereas Alan, the theatre critic, is perpetually drunk, and sophisticated Patricia is more intent on luring her no-good boyfriend into marriage than in helping Rosa investigate the story. When a second body is discovered and her investigations start antagonizing not only the police, but the town's influential figures, she realizes she's involved much more deeply than even her investigative mind could desire.