Now retired, Inspector Ramsay, of Miss Riddell Cozy Mysteries fame, has adopted a dog, Bracken, and taken to hiking the highest peaks of his native lands, Scotland and England. In the English Lake District, he and Bracken aid a young woman to escape her pursuers. She's been held captive for days before escaping. Ramsay is puzzled by this because he's heard on the radio, and read in the local papers, only that she'd run away from home. Had the kidnappers not demanded a ransom? Or were her parents and the police keeping that quiet, hoping for someone to give them a lead on where she was being held? This last didn't sit right with Ramsay but nor did the idea the kidnappers hadn't asked for a ransom. Ramsay begins to investigate, only to have the young woman run away from him. What’s going on here in the quiet English countryside?