Strontian, a village on Ardnamurchan Peninsula, is inhabited by mining folk and crofters, eking out a living from the unforgiving land and turning a blind eye to the smugglers who plague the coast. A bag of bones is pulled out of the water; the assistant to Gustav Wengler, eccentric owner of the lead mines, is brutally murdered; what is the connection? And what do either have to do with the sundial in Ockle churchyard and the collection of monuments on Wengler's island known locally as the White Cathedral? Sholto McKay and Brogar Finn of the Pan-European Mining Company - in pursuit of a potentially valuable mineral from the Strontian mines - begin their own investigations, unaware their discoveries will tear more than one life apart.
