Near the end of the 10th Century, Saxon King Aethelred entrusts his premier General Ealdoman Byrhtnoth with defending England's south eastern coastline. Byrhtnoth receives intelligence that a vast fleet of Viking longships led by Prince Olaf Tryggvasson of Norway, is attacking the Kent coastal towns of Folkestone and Sandwich. Byrhtnoth suspects Tryggvasson's fleet will sail home past the Essex posts of Colchester and Maldon, being unable to resist the lure of the royal mint's silver in theses towns' castles. The Ealdoman summons the Great Fyrd to defend them.

Despite huge status disparities, Princess Catherine has developed a rapport with Eddie, her Romani mercenary bodyguard. Eddie's recent miraculous escape from the homicidal maniac Tryggvasson, makes him apprehensive that Maldon's Saxons can successfully defend themselves against the Viking monster's massive army. Consequently Eddie will need prodigious guile to protect his princess from the enigma of spectral Druids and a looming Viking holocaust...