The Lancashire Witches is set on and around Pendle Hill in early-Seventeenth-century Lancashire, with an introduction set in 1536. The Cistercian monk, Borlace Alvetham, is falsely accused of witchcraft by his rival, Brother John Paslew, and condemned to a lingering death. Alvetham escapes by selling his soul to Satan and returns as the warlock, Nicholas Demdike, during the Pilgrimage of Grace, to witness the execution of the now Abbot Paslew for treason. Paslew dies cursing Demdike's daughter and "that infant and her progeny became the Lancashire Witches." The remainder of the narrative is set about a century later, when the ancient witch, Mother Demdike, wields tremendous supernatural power over the area, her evil family challenged only by the rival witches, Mother Chattox and Alice Nutter. The elaborate plot centres around the fate of two lovers, the pious Alizon Device (raised by the Demdike clan, but in fact the long-lost daughter of Alice Nutter), and the young aristocrat Richard Assheton. In Book I Alizon discovers her birth-mother is Alice Nutter and resolves to save her soul. Book II chronicles the rivalry between Demdike, Chattox and Nutter, Demdike's attempts to corrupt Alizon and the eventual destruction of Demdike and Chattox in a fire on Pendle Hill. Book III follows Alice Nutter's penitence, a visit from James I, and the final struggle between Heaven and Hell for the souls of Alice and her daughter. Both are killed in a violent confrontation with Alice's ex-demon familiar, but they die in prayer and the mark of Satan fades from Alice's brow. Richard Assheton, who has been cursed repeatedly by various vindictive witches throughout, pines away and the lovers are buried in a single grave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]