Soon after his poetry recital, Leonard Quinton is found hanging in the conservatory. When Father Brown realises that he could not have committed suicide, the search begins for a murderer.

Father Brown becomes embroiled with a theatrical family when he discovers that a supposed tragic drowning was actually murder.

When an ungodly man is murdered at the unveiling of a new church clock, Father Brown must find the killer before an innocent woman is sent to the gallows.