Orphaned at eighteen, a naIve and solitary Chris Pritchard joins the Metropolitan Police in search of a family, friends and a regular income. He is posted to Stoke Newington police station in London's tough East End. Despite barely concealed contempt for her hapless new charge, his experienced instructor, WPC Dawn Matthews, puppy walks him through a journey, which is regularly amusing, frequently sad and occasionally bizarre. You will not read a more accurate account of how London was policed a generation ago.