Feelings run high in the Scottish Highlands when a magnificent pedigree Aberdeen Angus bull, rejoicing in the impressive title of The Marquis of Braedale, is brutally shot. Everything points to the county inspector - including his well-known hatred of the Marquis's owner, a Scottish Home Rule fanatic and leader of the Children of the Mist, a group dedicated to that aim. But there is far worse to come.

Sent to investigate, the two Glasgow detectives Moss and Thane find themselves on unfamiliar territory, enmeshed in an ever-thickening web of murder and intrigue in the wild cattle country of north-east Scotland, as they try to unravel the truth.