At the end of the 19th Century, young Fanning finishes his studies in theology at the University of Cambridge. During a walk through the countryside, the boy, inspired by the lecture of romantic novels, discovers an abandonned house, from which an old man is coming out. He returns to the house regularly without ever seeing its mysterious inhabitant. Fanning finally surprises the old man while he is sitting on a bench at the cemetery and manages to gain his confidence...