The University should have been delighted when an influential courtier decides to found a new College in Cambridge, but the older Colleges are jealous of the newcomer's ostentatious wealth, and the townsfolk bitterly resent yet another academic foundation thrust into their midst. Tensions between town and gown rise further still when physician Matthew Bartholomew snatches an unpopular felon from the jaws of death - an incident that coincides with a sudden increase in violent crime across the whole region.

As the new College is about to receive the charter that will make it an official part of the University, an arrow flies through the air and kills the Junior Proctor. With the townsfolk and the scholars blaming each other for the murder, Bartholomew and his friend Brother Michael must find the culprit before the whole region erupts in a frenzy of recrimination and revenge.