In the winter of 1271, Death stalks the corridors of Wynethorpe Castle on the Welsh border. When the Grim Reaper touches the beloved grandson of the castle lord, Baron Adam sends for his daughter, Prioress Eleanor of Tyndal, and her sub-infirmarian, Sister Anne, to save the child with prayers and healing talents. Escorting them to the remote fortress is Brother Thomas, an unwilling monk fighting his private demons. Death may be denied once in his quest for souls, but never twice. Soon after the trio arrives, an important guest is murdered. The prioress' brother Robert, bloody dagger in hand, stands over the corpse. All others may believe in his guilt, but Eleanor is convinced her brother is innocent. Outside her priory, in a world of armed men, Eleanor may have little authority, but she is determined to untangle this Gordian knot of thwarted passions and old resentments. It will mean defying her father, a man with whom she longs to make peace. As passions rise with the winter wind and time runs short, Eleanor, Anne, and Thomas struggle to find the real killer before wily Death claims yet another victim and Robert is sent for hanging.