AD 1142. England is in the grip of civil war, and within the sheltered cloisters of the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul, a chain of events no less momentous than the upheavals of the outside world begins. First, there is the demise of the Lord of Eaton, whose ten-year-old son and heir, young Richard, is a pupil at the abbey. Then there is the arrival of the hermit, Cuthred, and his young companion. Despite Cuthred's reputation for holiness, his arrival heralds a series of mishaps for the monks. When Richard disappears and a corpse is found in Eyton Forest, Brother Cadfael once more devotes his knowledge of human nature to tracking down a murderer.
