It’s 1699 in the coastal settlement of Fount Royal in the Carolinas when Rachel Howarth is sentenced to be hanged as a witch. She’s been accused of murder, deviltry and blasphemous sexual congress. The beleaguered, God-fearing colonial village wants her dead. But Matthew Corbett, young clerk to the travelling magistrate summoned to Fount Royal to weigh the accusations, soon finds himself persuaded in favour of the beguiling young widow.

Struck first by her beauty, Matthew believes Rachel to be too dignified, courageous and intelligent for such obscene charges. The testimony against her is fanatical and unreliable. Clues to the crimes seem too convenient and contrived. A number of her accusers appear to gain by her execution. And, if Rachel is a witch, why hasn’t she used her powers to fly away from the jail on the wings of a nightbird?

As his investigation draws him into the darkness of a town gone mad, and deeper into its many secrets, Corbett realises that time is running out for him, for Rachel and for the hope that good could possibly win out over evil in Fount Royal.