England, 1790s: Amid the Enclosures, bringing both misery and progress in their wake, Sir Charles Augustus Shelmadine, a benevolent autocrat, rules the village of Clevely with a gentle but firm hand. But his sudden death heralds the arrival from India of his son and heir Richard - a secretive, dissolute man with a browbeaten wife, Linda. Richard's presence spreads unease in the village, as he has strange ideas and even stranger friends - foremost among them Mr Mundford, who neither ages nor loses at cards, and whose name is linked to the infamous Hell Fire Club. As Mr Mundford and Richard begin to explore the mysteries of Mithras worship, the young amber-eyed Damask Greenway, with her family in difficulties, ponders a power all her own. The question is, can Linda put everything to rights?