When news comes to Cashel that Chief Bishop and advisor to King Colgú of Muman has been murdered within the fortress of the Uí Fidgente, it is a shock for all concerned. As Colgú dispatches his sister Fidelma and her companion, Eadulf, to investigate, it seems there there is no uncertainty about the person who killed the abbot. Now Fidelma and Eadulf must face old enemies as they struggle to find an alternative to the apparent fact of Gormán's guilt. And with the threat of war looming, time is running out to the allotted moment of Gormán's execution.