Dirk Gently, his assistant Janice Pearce and Richard MacDuff - prime suspect in the Gordon Way murder case - arrive at the scene of the crime, where Gordon's Mercedes is cordoned-off in deepest Cambridgeshire.

Once the rookie policeman, Constable Luke, has been diverted from guarding the vehicle, Dirk uses powers he vehemently denies he possesses to 'channel' the events of the previous evening when Gordon was murdered by a mystery assailant hiding in the back of the car.

It seems that Gordon's sudden out-of-the-body experience was more than a transient blink of consciousness evaporating at the moment of death; in fact Gordon's spirit left a trail which Dirk, Janice and Richard now follow across country towards the road where Richard suddenly remembers he saw his late employer.

Moments later as Richard stepped from his car in shock, Detective Sergeant Gilks found him and briefly questioned him. Now that Richard is suspected of the murder, Gilks is himself on the trail of the young software designer, and their paths criss cross through the Cambridgshire countryside, where an Electric Monk, still looking for something to believe in, is also looking for his horse. Things look more sincere on a horse, and the Monk was designed with horseback riding as an optional feature.

While these events take place Michael Wenton-Weakes visits Richard's girlfriend, Susan Way, sister of the murder victim - but seems to be in need of more tender loving care than she is. Michael is obsessed with being sacked as editor of the family magazine by its owner, his mother. He is also suddenly fixated on the poetry of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In short, Michael is not himself - and Susan fears for her safety with him.