Ralph Ernest Gorse, the suave but utterly heartless anti-hero of Patrick Hamilton's classic The West Pier, is here revisited by Z-Cars creator Allan Prior in the novelisation of his acclaimed 1987 television serial of the same name. In the late 1930s, the womanising Gorse insinuates himself into the life of a widow who falls head-over-heels for him. Donald Stimpson, the widow's would-be suitor, vengefully pursues Gorse when the unrepentant conman relieves her of a considerable portion of her wealth, but Gorse will stop at nothing to evade his enemy.