Brno bridesmaids

Mark of Erlach, a friend of Margrave Jan Henry of Luxembourg, finds a dying girl and her newborn wrapped in a precious swaddling cloth with the symbol of the patrician Anshelm family in the woods near Brno. At the request of the Margrave Margaret of Opava, he begins to discreetly investigate who the girl was and who the father of the child is.

The trail leads among Brno's harlots to Puhlík Hill, a hotbed of crime where pimps, thieves and murderers hide out and abuse the poor women for their crimes. However, the girl was not a bride and the father of the child was a prominent Brno burgher. A scandal involving an illegitimate child unleashes a series of intrigues among the wealthy patricians and exposes the cruelty of some seemingly well-ordered marriages.