Following a poor harvest, a young orphan boy is released from a life of serfdom and sets off from a remote farm, not knowing what fate or fortune holds for him. The year is 999, it is ten days before Christmas and a dark prophecy hangs over the land, for the abyss is to be opened and the devil released upon the world. Willem's arrival at the small coastal village of Ebbsweirmouth coincides with two sudden and apparently unconnected deaths. Here, he meets Mildred Goodlyhead, the seeker of the dead and finds work with Cyrus Scolop, the offensive and violent fishmonger. Set in Essex and Havering, or East Seaxe and Haeferingas as they were then called, One Christmas Past features vibrant characters such as the butcher, Maggoty Gripple, and the Shire Reeve Oswald Balliwick. It has an engrossing plot based on the universal themes of providence and hope.