The death of Muriel Fayne in her house near Colombury in the English Cotswolds sets off a curious chain of events, mainly affecting her daughter Helen. A tiresome fall, a bolting horse, a possible poisoning, a car crash with which drugs may be associated - do these and other incidents merely suggest that Helen is becoming accident prone, possibly because she drinks a little too much, or are more sinister motives and forces at work? The whole of Muriel's family, the local vicar, a man who would once have been known as the 'squire' - all are involved, as well as the Drayton Galleries, a nearby riding stables and Coriston College. Eventually, Dr. Band takes a hand in the game, and so does Detective-Superintendent George Thorne of the Thames Valley Police Serious Crime Squad, as incident follows incident in this complex web of motives and deceptions, leading to a denouement as surprising as it is dramatic.