The children of Hexen Bridge are gifted and clever, but insanity and murder follow in their wake. The Doctor has a special interest in the village, but on his return to England in the early twenty-first century events seem to be escalating out of control.

Kidnapped and taken to Liverpool, the Doctor realises that developments in Hexen Bridge have horrifying repercussions for the rest of the country. Ace is left in the village, where small-minded prejudices and unsettled scores are flaring into violence.

As scarecrows fashioned from the bodies of the recent and ancient dead stalk the country lanes around Hexen Bridge, a sinister dark stain is spreading over the surrounding fields. And as the fierce evil grows ever stronger, can the Doctor and Ace prevent it from engulfing the entire world?

Featuring the seventh Doctor and Ace, this adventure takes place between the TV stories THE CURSE OF FENRIC and SURVIVAL.