On the moors of Northern Yorkshire, like some Gothic victim in a Brontë novel, lies Danny Cowan's corpse inside the ruin of a farmhouse. A bloody gash on his forehead suggests the notorious drunk fell, but Lucy Owens, who found the body, believes he was murdered. The police are bent on discouraging her from investigating further for fear that her snooping will scare away the tourists, whose daily visits to the home of the famous Brontë family keep the economy booming. Lucy, however, continues to search deeper and soon discovers that when the Brontë sisters roamed these same moors, a few corrupt Freemasons were committing fraud against their neighbours. This rogue band of Freemasons exploited their network of brothers to steal and kill with impunity. Unfortunately, for Lucy, the roots of that secret violence extend into the present day, and the odds of her catching the perpetrator seem slim, especially when the local men identify her as the main suspect.