At first glance the village of Enscombe could be deceiving. Behind the enchanting appearance of an English watercolor lies a rather different reality. The Guillemards, for example, a once rich and powerful family, persist in perpetuating customs and attitudes of the past as if nothing had changed. Rivalries that have never subsided fuel old resentments, and there is no shortage of more or less unspeakable secrets as in any self-respecting small community. All this gradually comes to light with the sudden disappearance of young Harold Bendish, a policeman among those who serve in rural districts. Disliked by the inhabitants for being too dutiful in sanctioning any infraction, Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel and Chief Inspector Peter Pascoe involved in the research turns out to be involved in very unedifying episodes which, together with a strange affair of portraits, outline the outlines of a truly anomalous case. Until on the traditional Day of Reckoning something happens that no one would have ever expected.