High in the Mid-Yorkshire dales stand the pretty village of Enscombe, proud survivor of all that history has thrown at it.

But now market forces mass at the gates and the old way of life seems to be changing fast. The Law can do little to stop the ever-growing crimes against tradition, but when a policeman goes missing DCI Pascoe gets worried. Andy Dalziel thinks he's overreacting until the normally phlegmatic Sergeant Wield shows signs of changing his first impressions of village life.

Over two eventful days a new pattern emerges, of lust and lying, of family feuds and ancient injuries, of frustrated desires and unbalanced minds. Finally, inevitably, everything comes to a bloody climax at the Squire's Reckoning, when the villagers gather each Lady Day to feast and pay old debts'Śand not even the presence of the Mid-Yorkshire CID trio can change the course of history.