The Justiciar Sevarian is asked to help protect a remote monastery from the increasingly violent machinations of a petty local baron who wants the religious community's land for his own purposes. Sevarian becomes convinced to get involved due to his personal interests when he learns of a relic held in secret by the monks, which can allegedly grant instant absolution from all sins, but when he arrives at the monastery, he discovers that the crumbling edifice houses more dangerous secrets than the mere bones of saints.