The commander of the Ankh-Morpork guard is in big trouble. He is sent... on vacation to the village. Samuel Vimes will have to spend an unforgettable two weeks away from the bustle of the city and big problems in the company of his loving wife, inquisitive son and faithful servant Willikins. The dream of any hard worker, you say? Not in the case of a person who has not taken a single day off during his years of service and even spends his weekends waiting every minute for urgent messages from work. Vimes has absolutely no idea what to do in his free time, and dutifully visits his wife with his wife, holds receptions, walks around the area and grabs any opportunity to have fun. The commander is still hopeful that any day now something out of the ordinary will happen in Ankh-Morpork, and the patrician will demand the return of Vimes to the city, but the guards, left in the capable hands of Captain Carrot, work like clockwork. Sam doesn’t have to suffer from idleness for long - he finds out that the local inhabitants are far from being as innocent as they seem at first glance, dark things are happening under the cover of darkness, and in the past there is a terrible secret that needs to be revealed... The commander happily plunges into an impromptu investigation , not even suspecting that it was Patrician Vetinari himself who recommended Lady Sybil to relax with her husband in the village in the first place.