Miss Marple investigates the downfall of an optimistic young couple who ignored the warnings of a gypsy and built a dream home on allegedly cursed land.

While holidaying on the Caribbean island of St. Honoré, Miss Marple is drawn into a case of intrigue and black magic when a garrulous old major who bragged of owning a photograph of a known murderer dies under mysterious circumstances.

Miss Marple aids a young mother and son by spiriting them away to the estate of an eccentric botanist, not knowing that it will soon become the scene of murder.