Private investigator Patrick Haskell is hired by a concerned father to follow up the disappearance of his son. The young man, an avid historian, was researching the phenomenon of 'ghost villages' - abandoned communities, one of which, Witherych, is rumoured to lie close to the isolated, squalid settlement of Marshwood. What starts as a routine investigation becomes anything but as his covert inquiries amongst the xenophobic inhabitants are met with suspicion and hostility. Haskell becomes increasingly convinced that Marshwood harbours a sinister secret...