Jim Wetherby, orphaned when arsonists burnt down his home and his parents killed, slaves as a scullery boy at a New Forest inn. Naively drawn into a smuggling ring, the young teenager increasingly finds solace in the forest as he determines to uncover some dark secrets. Intrigued to find his godfather living covertly in a cottage in the forest, memories of his past life unravel into reality. When he becomes infatuated with a young girl of some breeding, Lily, he's anxious to better himself - learn to read, especially the Bible he sees at his godfather's home. As disaster strikes, Jim becomes aware of a spiritual presence looking out for him in the forest - could it be the Gypsies who befriend him, or the fallow deer that always seems to be close by? Mystery and conspiracy abound in this delightfully evocative story of life in the New Forest in the 1840s.