Arriving back in the region of her birth - Winchester in Hampshire - Faith Morgan, newly ordained priest in the Church of England, witnesses the dramatic death of a fellow priest during a communion service at a church in Little Worthy. He has been poisoned with a pesticide mixed with the communion wine. One of the police officers who turns up at the scene is Ben Shorter, Faith's ex long-term boyfriend. They trained as police officers together, until Faith's vocation took a different turn. Her relationship with Ben changed too at this point as she became uneasy with his drive for convictions, seemingly at any cost - even that of the truth. Most reluctantly Faith is drawn to dust down her detective skills, even as she picks her way through the delicate relationships of a church and village reeling from the death of a well-loved minister. Just what was the deceased's relationship with an attractive widow ...?