In an alternate 1605, the Gunpowder Plot succeeds. Behind it stands Henry Howard, a Catholic nobleman who has spent decades arranging the destruction of one government and the quiet construction of another.
King Richard III sends Richard Taillour west to investigate a seized merchant vessel and the disappearance of two royal commissioners. What he finds aboard the Sint Marie in Axmouth harbour defies all record.
Ralph Travers, a curate in Exeter, struggles with his conscience after inadvertently making the Devil, Bucky, known to children through a rhyme. As children start disappearing, he faces the consequences of his actions.