At the height of the hottest summer on record, a young boy's life changes dramatically after discovering an old painting in a country farm sale. He finds himself being led along a mystical path that started five hundred years before. The dangers that lie ahead are not imaginary but very real.

'The face began to dissolve and as the features of the old man's face disappeared, new details were emerging; hair gave way to skin, skin to bony skull and then to brain. Scott woke up sweating, got out of bed and pulled back the curtains. Wind rattled the sash windows and the street lamp threw leafy shadows from a silver birch that fluttered and danced on his bedspread. A dog barked in the distance. Scott found his sketch book and sat there surrounded by movement. He drew quickly in case the haunting face would leave his memory before it was finished but there was no danger of that, he would never forget the face.'