A young coed (Nan Barlow) uses her winter vacation to research a paper on witchcraft in New England. Her professor recommends that she spend her time in a small village called Whitewood. He originally cam from that village so he also recommends she stay at the "Raven's Inn," run by a Mrs. Newlis. She gets to the village and notices some weird happenings, but things begin to happen in earnest when she finds herself "marked" for sacrifice by the undead coven of witches. It seems that the innkeeper is actually the undead spirit of Elizabeth Selwyn, and the "guests" at the inn are the other witches who have come to celebrate the sacrifice on Candalmas Eve. As one of them said when Nan walked away, "HE will be PLEASED."

A perfectly executed heist leads to murder and mayhem at a traveling circus. After thieves pull off a precisely-timed robbery, one of the crooks is stabbed to death. When Inspecter Elliott is assigned to the case, his search for the stolen cash leads him into the Barberini Circus. The criminal's body is discovered and a circus member is murdered - both victims of the same phantom killer. Elliott becomes caught up in the lives of the performers, whose private jealousies and indiscretions lead him through a labyrinth of clues to the location of the money and the killer…