The disappearance of a horse whisperer in Newton Magna brings Barnaby face to face with old adversary Melvyn Stockard, now reinvented as the village squire. But when a villager's body is pulled out of the well, Barnaby becomes convinced Stockard is somehow involved.

When Barnaby and Troy discover the dead body of arrogant,beautiful, and spoilt daughter of the manor, Melissa Townsend, by a swimming pool at her house in Midsomer Malham, their investigation uncovers a seedy world of adultery and deceit within the affluent rural community.