Some eight months after the events of Penric and the Shaman, Learned Penric, sorcerer and scholar, travels to Easthome, the capital of the Weald. There he again meets his friends Shaman Inglis and Locator Oswyl. When the body of a sorceress is found in the woods, Oswyl draws him into another investigation, and they must all work together to uncover a mystery mixing magic, murder, and the strange realities of Temple demons.

"... when patroller Dag Redwing Hickory rescued farmer girl Fawn Bluefield, neither expected to fall in love, join their lives in marriage, or defy both their kin to seek new solutions to the perilous split between their peoples. As Dag's maker abilities have grown, so has his concern about who, or what, he is becoming... Fawn and Dag see that their world is changing, and the traditional Lakewalker practices cannot hold every malice at bay forever......

Penric, while trying to guide the betrayed General Arisaydia and his widowed sister to safety, encounters the courtesan Mira of Adria, one of the 10 dead women whose imprints make up the personality of chaos demon Desdemona.