In the German hinterlands, between World Wars, a family goes to bed, not knowing that their killer has been living in the walls and attics of their home like a ghost, watching, waiting for his chance to strike, in one of the most famous unsolved mysteries of all time.

A young woman, raised in a town controlled by a religious zealot, must rectify a fatal mistake before a ravenous mob hangs the Old Witch, Mary Webster, in this story set just 11 years before and 100 miles from Salem, Massachusetts.