Ved'my grafstva Esseks

Angliya, 1643 god. Vsya strana ohvachena puritanskim pylom. V malen'kom gorode Menningtri posle voyny sovsem ne ostalos' muzhchin, a v serdcah zhenschin, predostavlennyh samim sebe, pylaet uzhas proklyatiya.Rebekka Uest, zhivuschaya s odnoy tol'ko mater'yu, stradaet ot tosklivoy rutiny, kotoruyu lish' izredka ozhivlyaet ee uvlechenie krasivym molodym klerkom Dzhonom Idsom. No vot na shahmatnoy doske Menningtri poyavlyaetsya novaya figura - ne kto inoy, kak Met'yu Hopkins. Zagadochnyy, nabozhnyy chelovek, odetyy s nog do golovy v chernoe, on stanovitsya vladel'cem postoyalogo dvora "Torn" i nachinaet interesovat'sya, chem zanimayutsya zhenschiny na zadvorkah etoy ubogoy obschiny.