When an elderly seller of antique books discovers the will of the late industrialist John Mallathorpe hidden in a copy of The History of Barford it sets in motion a sequence of singular events in the Yorkshire city of Barford involving fraud, blackmail, and ultimately murder. Bartle Collingwood, a young barrister, finds himself drawn into the circle of intrigue surrounding these events which he must unravel to lift the cloud that hangs over the woman with whom he has fallen in love.