 Dalziel and Pacscoe investigate the murder of a priest who had been sent to a local parish to investigate claims of a miracle having occurred nearby. What they find is that church records have also been stolen. When they subsequently find the remains of an 8 year old girls who has been missing for over 40 years, the case points to Father Tibbings, the local priest who managed a children s home many years before until it was destroyed by fire. The case becomes personal for Dalziel when his dying sister, Harriet Clifford, tells him of a long hidden family secret.