When Alice Toon leaves a bequest to St. Martha's, her old Cambridge college, the dons split into three factions: the Virgins, the Dykes and the Old Women (who are, in fact, men). Determined to do down the Dykes, the Bursar infiltrates into this maelstrom her friend and ex-colleague, Robert Amiss. The Virgins believe the bequest should be spent on fellowships in the most austere areas of scholarship; the Dykes want to spend the money on a centre for Gender and Ethnic Studies; the Old Women feel it should promote more worldly pleasures. Just as it seems the Virgins are getting the upper hand, one of their number is found dead...and once again Amis finds himself at the sharp end of a murder investigation.