When Shrewsbury's goldsmith, Walter Aurifaber, is robbed and left for dead, the locals launch a witch-hunt. Pursued by the mob, the prime suspect, a young juggler, Liliwin, who performed at the wedding of the goldsmith's son Daniel, seeks sanctuary at the Abbey. But as Cadfael investigates, he finds floating in the River Severn the dead body of Baldwin Peche. The hunt for the Aurifaber's robber and Peche's murderer leads in an unexpected direction, given hints by the dying words of the grandmother of the goldsmith's house, Juliana Aurifaber.