Brother Cadfael's secular past collides with his cloistered present in this story about possession and love. When a wealthy landowner decides to disinherit his stepson, Shrewsbury Abbey stands to benefit. But before Gervase Bonel can make the transfer final, he is poisoned by food prepared in the abbey. The dead man's widow is Cadfael's own childhood sweetheart, whom he last saw 40 years before when he left for the Crusades, promising he would be back to marry her.