A snow-covered Yorkshire village, December 24th. The story opens with the return of Dr. Stephen Hallam, a young physician, to the village of his childhood. He’s been called back to attend the funeral of his estranged uncle, Horace Hallam, an eccentric recluse who lived alone in Grave House, a crumbling manor near the churchyard.

The funeral is sparsely attended. Horace was not well liked — or trusted. But his sudden death, ruled as heart failure, troubles Stephen. There were whispers in the village: Horace had made a new will, and a locked journal vanished the day he died.