Hallam Foe has chosen an unusual teenage hobby: voyeurism. His interest is professional, less for sex than for intimacy, power and to punish his father and stepmother for his mother's death. However, his mastery of treehouses and telescopes arouses suspicion, and he is banished to Edinbugh's medieval Old Town, where his voyeurism becomes more dangerous. However, Hallam is ceaselessly inventive, and skylights and rooftops have potential beyond his most romantic and vengeful dreams.