Eighteenth century Chadleigh Hall in Devon (until recently used as a girls' boarding school) is being converted by Dominic Kilburn, its new owner, into a luxury hotel. But when his builders start work on a previously bricked-up room they make a grisly discovery - the skeleton of what looks to be a young woman tied to a chair. To DI Wesley Peterson and his boss Gerry Heffernan it looks as if some poor unfortunate soul has been walled up and left to die. Meanwhile Wesley's archaeologist friend Neil is investigating the ruins of a ship called the Celestina, wrecked in a nearby cove in 1772. The new owner of Chadleigh Hall, Dominic Kilburn, has legal rights to the wreck and is impatient to get his hands on her reputed cargo of gold. But then a woman's body is found floating in the sea by divers and Wesley has not one but two unexplained deaths on his hands...