Wife in name only to Francis Crawford of Lymond, Philippa returns to Scotland, but Lymond remains in Greece with exquisite courtesan, Khiaya Katun and they travel to Russia where he is to serve as second in power to the capricious young Tsar, Ivan the Terrible, already brushed by the coming madness Lymond trains the Tsar's armies and then, as official envoy, must return at last to his own land to face danger and intrigue