Chief Superintendent Wycliffe is not looking forward to Christmas. With his wife away in Kenya, he rashly accepts an invitation from Penzance lawyer Ernest Bishop to spend a few days at the Bishops' cliff-top home. When Wycliffe arrives, the weather is bleak, the house is remote, and the welcome from the family no more than polite. Then, on Christmas Eve, a young girl goes missing after playing the part of the Virgin in the local nativity play. It's...