In fourteenth-century Devon midwife and healer Agatha Kyteler is regarded as a witch by superstitious villagers of Wefford, yet she has no shortage of callers, from the humblest villain to the most elegant and wealthy in the area. But when Agatha's body is found frozen and mutilated in a hedge one wintry morning, there seem to be no clues as to who could be responsible. Not until a local youth runs away and a hue and cry is raised. Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, is not convinced of the youth's guilt, and soon manages to persuade his close friend, Simon Puttock, liff of Lydford Castle, to help him continue with the investigation. As they endeavour to find the true culprit, the darker side of the village, with its undercurrents of suspicion, jealousy and disloyalty, emerges. And while Sir Baldwin becomes increasingly distracted by the beauty of a neighbouring merchant's wife, Simon finds himself wondering what has happened to the foreigner who visited the normally sleepy area only to disappear shortly after Agatha's death, riding down towards the moors...