As the temperature gradually rises in the Fenland town, the passions of its citizens also emerge from the winter chill. A skeletal hand has become an object of veneration, viewed by some as a holy relic and capable of curing all ills, but thought by others to have once belonged to a local simpleton. Two well-born citizens who had been convicted of murder have received the King's pardon and have now returned to Cambridge, showing no remorse for their actions but ready to confront those who helped convict them.

Matthew Bartholomew, his services as a physician in much demand from a populace malnourished by the harsh winter conditions, is then summoned to one of the local mills where two people have been discovered dead, both with nails penetrating their mouths. One of the victims was a popular scholar, while the other was one of the town's leading merchants. Matthew knew he had been mentally ill, but did not believe he was of the character to take his own life, and the legacy he had to leave was well worth killing for...