Thea throws herself into house-sitting for Babs and Cedric Angell in Lower Slaughter following her beloved father's death - anything to keep her busy and away from some of her rather difficult relatives. And while feeling lonely, keeping the house in order and looking after the Angell's menagerie of animals does the trick for a short period of time. But when Thea's prickly elder sister turns up on her doorstep after witnessing a horrific murder, the tentative tranquillity in Lower Slaughter vanishes, replaced by the sinister connotations of the town's name.