Ellis O'Donovan was an American through and through. He had no intention of going to his ancestral home in Ireland. After all, his parents were chased out by the English. But his mother insists on being taken back to die at her old estate, Kilpara. Ellis reluctantly agrees, expecting a quick round trip. Kilpara and its residents have other plans. The strife Ellis finds between his desire to return to his life in America, and to aid his kin in Ireland reaches a dangerous pinnacle when he meets Morrigan, the daughter of the very English overlord who has taken his birthright.