At the local theatre, Shakespeare resonates under the direction of Matthew Rawlings-a retired detective superintendent now engaged to direct Julius Caesar. Then, in a small country village close by, the play becomes a bizarre reality.
Its proud residents are taken completely off guard. The walls of the little country church shudder with the horror that suddenly confronts them. A body is found, and the village is sealed off. Soon to be followed by another death. As the lives behind that cordon begin to unravel, grief, loss, and love gone astray, glimpsed behind half closed doors. To the retired policeman's eye something is badly wrong.
Yet both the village and its secrets remain beyond his reach. His offers of help are declined; his instincts have nowhere to go. And as the company rehearses Caesar's warning, Rawlings is close enough to sense the omens-yet powerless to prevent the deaths that will surely follow.