Plot Summary

Part 1: The Transporter in Wetledale

The story begins with the Transporter arriving at the edge of Wetledale, a valley that has lost its colour and economic diversity due to the dominance of a powerful cabinet-making industry. His own work has dwindled as the non-perishable cabinets are now shipped by sea. He has returned to the region at the request of the Warehouse Manager, who has promised new opportunities. The Transporter delivers provisions to Michael and Michele Fishwick, a couple who secretly forage for forbidden natural colours. He conveys the Warehouse Manager's request for them to gather intelligence on the local fraternities. He then visits the Decorators' Fraterity Hall, where he makes a secret contract with its Chair to transport an Examiner into Wetledale during the winter, hoping an unexpected inspection will challenge the restrictive Rules of Conformance crippling her fraternity. Seeking more leverage, he overhears two young, idealistic decorators, Helen Painter and Angela Owen, and plants the seeds of rebellion by speaking to them about the value of colour.

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Part 2: Appointing an Examiner

The narrative shifts to the politics of the Seven Valleys' Ruling Council. The ambitious new Head of All Science uses the threat of an uprising in the neighbouring Flatlands—fueled by potent new colours—as a pretext to send an Examiner to the long-uninspected Wetledale to extract more "value" (resources and money). He summons the Master of Examiners, who, aware of the political risks and lack of willing candidates, suggests hiring a disgraced but skilled former Examiner, Jim Kirwin, who is desperate for work and will not be recognised by informers. The Head of Science, a known gambler, agrees to this high-risk plan.

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Part 3: The Good Servant

The newly re-appointed Examiner, Jim Kirwin, accepts the contract out of financial desperation. The Transporter, sent by the Warehouse Manager, arrives at Kirwin's home and offers to smuggle him north, disguised as a Transporter to ensure the element of surprise. Meanwhile, Kirwin's servant is revealed to be an informant for the Peacekeeper, a powerful member of the Ruling Council. The Peacekeeper has her own agenda: to stop the flow of Fishwick colour that is destabilising the Flatlands and to secure Wetledale's value for her own ends. During their journey, the Transporter and Examiner establish a tense rapport, arriving at the Armdale Warehouse where the Transporter secretly meets with his overseer, the Warehouse Manager, the true mastermind of the plot. The Warehouse Manager confirms their goal is to break the rules restricting colour, which are harming the Transporter's trade. The Transporter proceeds to Wetledale ahead of the Examiner and is advised by Michele Fishwick to use the young decorators to acquire the evidence he needs. Two days later, the Examiner crosses the mountains and is met by a waiting Helen Painter.

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Part 4: The Fraternity of Decorators

This section flashes back to the events leading up to the Examiner's arrival. Tensions are high within the Decorators' Fraternity over the rules restricting colour. Helen and Angela win the contract to redecorate Conformance Hall, the seat of local power. In a tense meeting, the Cabinet Makers' Fraternity, fearing the rumoured Examiner, pressures the Decorators' Fraternity to destroy their records of illegal colour use, which are detailed in the Fourth Element of the Record. The Decorators' Chair refuses but is politically outmanoeuvred. Realising her fraternity is facing ruin, she secretly asks Helen and Angela to act as spies inside Conformance Hall. While working, Helen discovers a vibrant, masterful mural from a past era, hidden behind wall panelling. Pragmatic Angela insists they simply report the loose panelling, but the discovery deepens Helen's resolve. It is at this point that the Transporter finds a distraught Helen in the Ship Inn and convinces her to meet the Examiner.

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Part 5: The Fourth Element

Michael Fishwick, using the mystical Thinking Fern for guidance, decides he must help Helen, whom he sees as a fellow "Colourer". The Examiner formally arrives at Conformance Hall, immediately unsettling the valley's leadership by revealing he knows about the colour behind the panelling. As the Chairs of Conformance and Cabinet-Making scramble to control the Examiner, Michael Fishwick finds the Transporter and urges him to stay and help. The Transporter refuses, stating his contract is done, but encourages Fishwick to act on his own convictions.

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Part 6: Flatlanders

Helen and Angela, spurred on by hints from their own leadership, decide to act. Helen breaks into the Decorators' Hall to copy the incriminating Fourth Record. She is watched over and then rescued by Michael Fishwick, who reveals he has stolen the entire original Decorators' Records for her. Meanwhile, the Peacekeeper arrives at the Armdale Warehouse, revealing the Flatlanders have crossed the Great Southern River and she intends to stop the Fishwicks' colour trade permanently. The Warehouse Manager convinces the Transporter to return to Wetledale on a final, dangerous mission: to extract the Examiner, secure Wetledale's value, and save the Fishwicks. Back in Wetledale, Helen, Angela, and Fishwick extract the Examiner from a hostile Conformance Hall just as the Chair of Conformance allies with them against the increasingly radical Cabinet Makers. They escape but are pursued to Fishwick's cottage. The Cabinet Makers attack, and Fishwick sets his cottage ablaze with coloured powders to cover their escape across the dangerous Black Marsh, and sacrificing the year's foraging in doing so. Helen, Angela and the Examiner are rescued on the other side of the marsh by the returning Transporter.

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Part 7: Wetledale

The group shelters at the remote High Farm. The Transporter informs the Examiner his investigation is over; he is to be taken to the Peacekeeper. The Transporter descends into Wetledale and, using the rescued Senior Brother of the Cabinet Makers as a bargaining chip, brokers a truce and secures the valley's monetary value for the Peacekeeper. Fishwick appears one last time, gives Helen a cloth dyed with the shimmering, multi-hued spores of the colour mushroom, and flees north. On the journey to Armdale, the Examiner reveals his true conclusion: the entire system of Attitudinal Science is flawed. However, at the warehouse, the Peacekeeper forces him to change his report, bribing him into stating the problems are minor and require a future examination. Devastated, Helen convinces the Transporter to undertake one final act of rebellion: they agree to transport Fishwick's shimmering black cloth across the Southern River to the Flatlands, hoping to trigger the very change the Peacekeeper fears. An epilogue reveals the Sky Lord has triumphed in the Flatlands, and the political powers of the Seven Valleys are adapting to a new reality where colour can no longer be completely controlled.