Summoned to the bedside of the dying Lord Marston, Amos Cotswold, the local district councillor, fails to decipher what the old gentleman is trying desperately to convey. As boys, Amos and Lord Marston's son had been friends but Crispin left forty years ago and no one knows if he is still alive.In his will Lord Marston bequeaths his estate - including the twelfth century ruins of the original manor and a church - to his recently arrived secretary and her head-gardener husband. The new owners and their adult sons set out to ruin the villagers' way of life.Amos finds himself inexplicably haunted by the Marston ghosts and the uncanny parallel of what is happening now with the legend of what took place at Marston in mediaeval times. To save his village Amos must not only find the rightful heir but also determine how the legend ended...