When Sheila Malory's young granddaughter starts riding lessons at the local riding school, Sheila is happy to have the excuse to spend time there with her friends who run the place. The affable Charlie Hamilton, former Olympic showjumper and owner of the school, and his wife Josephine seem to have bounced back from previous incurred debts and to be living a charmed existence teaching the local children to ride. But is everything quite as it seems?

When Charlie's body is found in the stables the inhabitants of Taviscombe are left appalled and disturbed. His death is the first of a succession of unexplained sinister happenings, and with the local police at a loss, it is left to Sheila, at her most persistent, to get to the bottom of the mystery.