A New York Times bestseller, the book became an NBC mini-series in 1978 titled The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, which starred Bette Davis (as Mary Fortune) and David Ackroyd (as Nick Constantine).

[1] Ned Constantine, his wife Bethany ("Beth"), and their daughter Kate relocate from New York City to an isolated Connecticut village, Cornwall Coombe, where the villagers adhere to "the old ways", eschewing modern agricultural methods and having extremely limited contact with the outside world.

Like Ned, Robert was once an outsider who moved to Cornwall Coombe at the behest of his wife Maggie, who was born in the village.

Ned also meets, among others, Justin Hooke, who serves as the current ceremonial "Harvest Lord"; Justin's wife, Sophie, his chosen "Corn Maiden" in the approaching "Corn Play"; and Worthy Pettinger, a young man whose dream of going to agricultural college are frustrated by his parents, who hold to the old ways.

On two separate occasions when Kate suffers a severe asthma attack, the Widow Fortune saves her life.

Beth and Kate grow to adore the Widow, but Ned is suspicious of her herbal medicines and finds her unquestioned influence over the town troubling.

Ned begins to understand that the villagers, led by their women, practice pagan fertility rites to ensure their harvests.

Meanwhile, Worthy's letter from Hartford to Ned (despite using a pseudonym) had been intercepted by Tamar Penrose, the postmistress, who steamed it open.

Ned is horrified to see Worthy's corpse being burnt in a massive bonfire on Kindling Night, where it had been callously tossed among the scarecrows.

Dropping the cat and mouse game she had been playing with Ned, she declares him an outcast and has him imprisoned in the village jail to keep him from interfering with Harvest Home.