Martin Bolland is 14 and a farmer's son in rural North Yorkshire in 1903. His father is a strict chapelgoer and he has an hour of bible study every day. The village is coming up to the annual feast with a village fair causing excitement in all the children. On top of this, a foreign lady and her daughter Angele come to live in the village. Angele likes teasing the boys and at the fair she causes a fight between Martin and one of the village boys. During the fight they overhear what appears to be a murder - a man being stabbed by his fiancee for trying to seduce her sister. During the investigation Martin discovers he's been adopted, so there is plenty of drama.