Taking a short cut home beneath the ruined abbey in the Yorkshire city of Eborby, a teenage girl reports stumbling across a body.

But with the body nowhere to be found, her inebriated state and troubled history leaves the police sceptical of her story. Only Detective Joe Plantagenet is inclined to believe her.

Meanwhile, Joe finds himself caught in the midst of an investigation into a production of The Devils at the local Playhouse when a young girl is reported missing. Could the play, with its shocking religious and sexual violence, have something to do with her disappearance? And could it explain the mysterious sighting of the body beneath the abbey?