Is it pure chance or a malignant fate that sends George Sudley to the village of Lambing, when, newly released from jail, he seeks a place in which to start his new life? For he chooses it simply by sticking a pin in a railway guide.

Once there, however, and once he has met the lovely Polly Edge, George has sealed his doom and there can be no drawing back. A victim of love at first sight, George becomes all too deeply involved in a chain of grim and swift-moving events, culminating in murder.