Corpse-candles. Phantom funerals. The bird of death. It was insidious.For Bethan, the schoolteacher, the old superstitions woven into the social fabric of her West Wales village are primitive and distasteful. Which is why she’s pleased to welcome the sophisticated newcomers: London journalist Giles Freeman and his wife Claire. Surely they’ll let in some fresh air? But the Freemans are keen to absorb this different culture, a whole new way of life - rejecting the advice of an old colleague who warns them of a hard and bitter land where they’ve always danced on the edge of the abyss. They soon learn that this community hides an ancient, bloody and pagan secret - one that will haunt them forever.