In 1864, a band of monks from an obscure religious branch move into Chadkirk near Manchester, England, and within weeks, children start to go missing. In 2009, a minor earthquake near Manchester exposes a huge wooden beam with a sinister and intriguing inscription on it and at the same time, a series of unusual and unsettling incidents begin to occur in a wood nearby. Historic researcher Naomi Wilkes is called in to investigate and she has no idea of the horror she will uncover.