At the National Space Centre in Leicester a man is found dead. Rita Patel, aged 18 and waiting for her A-level results, gets into danger when investigating what may have happened to him at the request of her school friend, Priya Shah. Rita is also asked by friends for help over two missing people, and finds connections between them and the death of the unknown man. Rita uncovers sinister practices involving the drugs trade and modern slavery as well as exploring the motivation for her brother's friend to travel to Syria. Rita's investigations are conducted in the summer of 2014 in a multicultural context, and take her between her home in Leicester and the city of Birmingham. Rita finds out about space exploration and the British astronaut who will join the European Space Station. She exercises her interest in history by exploring the Wars of the Roses and the death of Richard III at Bosworth, as well as finding out about the Magna Carta trail.