Disgraced former 9th-century investigator, Gralon Tanet journeys to the simple fishing village of Sant Nazer, Brittany, to investigate the double murder of their notary and blacksmith during the worst storm to hit the region in over a century. The Bishop's instructions were explicit. 'Find and hang the peasant who killed the notary, and I will reinstate your rank. Fail and you will hang in his place.' A superstitious population with a fierce distrust of strangers thwarts him at every turn. He's given one week to find the truth. Will he succeed, or will this puzzling investigation cost him his life at the end of a hangman's noose?