Dan Starkey and his wife Patrician have decided to make a go of their marriage, which means that Dan must assume responsibility for a baby - Little Stevie - that is not his. The three of them look like having plenty of time together when Dan Dan accepts an unusual commission - to investigate the situation on tiny Wrathlin Island, off the Irish coast. Dan is supposed to report on the villager's claim that the Messiah has been born on Wrathlin, in the shape of a little girl called Christine. At first, the rural idyll is little more than a comic interlude, but it seems that wherever Dan goes, murder and mayhem - not to mention religious fundamentalism, adultery and alcoholism - cannot be far behind.