When an attempt is made to steal a headless skeleton from an archaelogical dig, Wycliffe discovers an estate steeped in archaic values. The identification of the skeleton unsettles the land-owning Rawle family, whose days of sovereignty in the community are fading.

Surfer Anne Carter is found in a deep coma when she is washed ashore. The assumption that she is a victim of afreak accident have to be revised when Wycliffe and his team investigate, and uncover a host of sinister facts and conspiracies. Their task is hindered by an obvious leak to the press, which puts DI Lane in a precarious position.

An abandoned lorry with five corpses at the ferry terminal and a man on the run bring Wycliffe's silver wedding anniversary celebration, which their children have laid on as a surprise, to an abrupt halt.

When unexplained killings rock the Bodmin community, locals become convinced that the "beast" is back.