During a local eclipse of the sun Jeremy Harper,one of a group of amateur astronomers,is killed on Moonstone Ridge by a blow to the head with a meteorite. Jeremy had rowed with Laurence Janson,head of the university observatory over plans to extend the observatory onto the ridge but was unaware of his wife Catrina's affair with Janson. Local clairvoyant Mags Dormer had warned Jeremy of impending disaster and tells Barnaby that Moonstone Ridge is cursed,since Catrina's sister Mary,wife of pharmacist Harry Dutta,also died there some years earlier. Then other murders occur,of members of the group who were opposed to Janson's plans but also had made a discovery of their own,leading to a resolution of the case written in the stars.