Damaris goes to the lonely farmhouse in the Yorkshire Dales to see her sister Leah, who has eloped with Seth Paslew, one of her father's workers. But Leah has vanished, and Seth's behaviour is suspicious. He also lives too well for a man of his means. Is he a smuggler, or is it something more sinister? Amidst the spectacular scenery of the Dales, Damaris discovers a closed community with its own grim law. She also finds both danger and romance.