The church at Weepingwold has lain abandoned for years, but change is in the wind. The Luffkyns, former peasants who have made their fortune, have purchased the manor house from the noble but impoverished de Lessels. Humble Brother Kit from nearby Bycross Priory soon finds himself plucked from the cloister and made the parson of Weepingwold. Is he up to the task? And is there really a witch in the parish?

Meanwhile, young Petronilla, heiress to the de Lessels family, hopes to regain possession of the manor she considers rightfully hers. Her guardian, none other than Robert Luffkyn himself, has other ideas; he places her in the care of the Abbess of Gracerood, with the admonition that she is to become a nun. Will she?