Fetherhoughton is a Northern mill village, remote, backward, veiled from the twentieth century by moorland fogs. Father Angwin, its parish priest, presides over the souls of its brutish tea-swilling inhabitants. He has lost his faith and replaced it with a strong desire to be left alone - especially by the new-broom bishop. In the covent, the nuns work away at their tapestry, depicting the plagues of Egypt. The young Irish nun, Sister Philomena, yearns for freedom and a good meal, while the demonic Mother Perpetua plots her downfall.

 

One night, a visitor appears at the priest's house, wrapped in a cloak and carrying a black bag. His conversation is learned and his table manners mysterious. Who is this Fludd? The new curate? The bishop's spy? A practitioner of dark arts?

 

He has come to introduce the art of coffee making; to stir up dead passions; to force confrontations. 'I have come to transform you,' he says. 'Transformation is my business.'