Lucy Goodly may be big on gumption but she is down on her luck -- and before long finds herself as the new boot girl at eccentric Grave Hall, working for the rich and sinister-seeming Lord Grave. The other staff - Vonk the butler, Mrs Crawley the cook and Violet the scullery maid - all seem friendly but Lucy soon notices that strange things are afoot in her new home - and not just Mrs Crawley's experimental anchovy omelettes. The statues move, the books are magic and Lord Grave has a secret. Meanwhile, throughout the country, children are going missing and before long Lucy begins to suspect that things are not what they seem at Grave Hall -- could Lord Grave have anything to do with the disappearances; and is there something more mysterious than that afoot at the hall, where even the animals seem to know a secret they're not sharing! Lucy is determined to find out . . .