The fairy-like Stella Deverell is a girl of many gifts. Not only can she vanish into thin in air, she can turn rocks into gold and predict the future, including the deaths of several inhabitants of the village of Pickering, who are all plucked off cliffs by the wind, close to where her own father committed suicide.

Meanwhile, why does the mysterious Mr. Usher, who lives in the manor on a steep hill where Stella once lived, avoid all contact with the villagers? And why did many of the previous inhabitants, including her own mother, throw themselves off the hill when the wind was at its height?

Twist and Hurst investigate the apparent miracles, past and present, and reach an astonishing conclusion.