Richard Shenstone, at seventeen, has plenty of dirty secrets. A careless student expelled from college for huge debts and an addiction to opium, he returns home, thinking only about how to hide his sins from his family. But his family doesn’t seem to care about his secrets: the small, quiet-looking town is already full of secrets, intrigue and gossip even without him. The young man inevitably finds himself drawn into the drama unfolding around his family. Who sends anonymous letters to townspeople with dirty curses and accusations? Why does the mere name of his late father make his neighbors' faces twist? What are his mother and sister hiding and why are they trying so hard to send him home? In search of the truth, Richard step by step descends deeper into the darkness of a criminal secret...