In the tight knit Methodist community in Peasenhall, a newly arrived young servant-girl, Rose Harsent begins a torrid affair with a married man and church reader. She is then found stabbed to death. It is revealed that she is pregnant. Was it her married lover, the jealous wife, a jealous boyfriend or some other aggrieved member of the community?

1909. The wealthy married industrialist George Harry Storrs has an affair with a Swiss Governess Maria Hohl. She ends up commiting suicide. Threatening letters appear against Storrs. He receives round-the-clock police protection. Storrs winds up dead anyway. Who killed him and why?