 Barnaby and Troy must deal with upset villagers when two groups of itinerant travelers arrive in the village. One group is related to one of the village landowners while the other is the Smith clan, well known to police as thieves and grifters. Things become far more serious when one of the villagers, a local magistrate and somewhat of a bully, is murdered in his study. There are no end of suspects as both villagers and visitors apparently had motives to rid themselves of him. Slowly, Barnaby and Troy peel away at various village secrets eventually leading to the murderer.