An amphibious plane flies above umber fens and grassy tidal marshes while an upbeat dirge plays. The landscape is beautiful, haunting and lonely; moors and cliffs tumble down into the sea but they are flat and barren - only grass rises to meet the eye. This is Summerisle, a remote Hebridean Isle off the northwest coast of Scotland, and the pilot is Police Sergeant Howie (Edward Woodward) who's been sent to the isle to investigate the disappearance of Rowan Morrison, a young girl.