Still recovering from the harrowing case that ended his police career, Doug Michie returns to his boyhood home of Ayr on Scotland's wind-scarred west coast. He hopes to rebuild his shattered life, get over the recent failure of his marriage and shed his demons, but the years have changed the birthplace of the poet Robert Burns.

When Doug meets his old school-day flame Lyn, however, he feels his past may offer the salvation of a future. But, Lyn's son has been accused of murder and she begs Doug to find the truth.

Soon Doug is tangled in a complicated web of corrupt politicians, frightened journalists and a police force in cahoots with criminals. Only Burns' philosophical musings offer Doug some shelter as he wanders the streets of Auld Ayr battling The Storm Without.