The Doctor and Nyssa are visiting a tribe of gypsies on the last Christmas Eve of the twelfth century. A gypsy girl, Ioanna, tells Nyssa that on the last Christmas Eve of every century, the dead appear to those responsible for their deaths. They appear in the church, to which the villagers refuse to allow the gypsies admittance. Ioanna blames herself for her mother’s death, so she wishes to attend the church service. The Doctor believes aliens are the source of the manifestations.