In 1777 the young John Eagle moves to Yorkshire from London to begin his career as a junior attorney with senior partner, Abraham Balme, a curmudgeonly man who lives only for money and his spiteful elderly mother. John finds himself taking sides, not with Balme but with the ill-treated managing clerk, Tom Gill, and the downtrodden maid, Sukey. As he goes about his business, John proves an able attorney and is soon handling several delicate and, it transpires, connected cases. There is the death of his old friend, Richard Hudson, mysteriously found drowned in the Aire. He soon suspects it was no accident and may be linked to a renegade character, Long Larkin, who from his grim mansion on the moors is engaged in illegal coining activities and terrorises the locality. John forms a friendship with Sir Walter Spencer-Stanhope, a magistrate and prominent landowner. As the main authority in these parts, Sir Walter ought to be prosecuting Larkin without hesitation. But he argues that the time is not right and that Larkin serves a purpose as the War of American Independence is raging, with harmful economic effects. As John struggles he wonders if he has bitten off more than he can chew.