At the heart of The Silver Bough is a cairn on a knoll surrounded by standing stones. This is of professional interest to an archaeologist, around whom the story revolves. The plot of the book is imaginative and intricate, and includes the mystery of skeletons found in a cist in the cairn. As the dig proceeds, gold is discovered and then disappears. Has it been taken by the lad the archaeologist has been employing? The search is on and the standing stone claims its sacrificial victim.