The vision in Lady Mirielle's crystal globe showed two men arriving at Wroxley Castle. She knew one was honest, but sensed the other was concealing his identity. The first, Hugh, quickly became a valued friend and teacher. Giles remained a tantalizing mystery, though Mirielle could not deny the immediate and compelling attraction between them.

Meanwhile, Alda, the temperamental Lady of Wroxley, carried on an illicit affair with the seneschal, Bryce, who was Mirielle's cousin. When an angry Alda ordered Giles to the dungeon, Mirielle helped him to escape, knowing she would likely never see him again.

Then Hugh returned with a troop of men-at-arms and with him rode the Baron of Wroxley,the husband whom Alda had long assumed was dead in the Holy Land. With their arrival the real battle for the hearts and souls of those who lived at Wroxley began, and Mirielle was at the center of the fighting.