More like a gangland war for turf and loot than chivalry, the War of Roses disrupted the life of the English commoners for hundreds of years. Roan Rose is the story of one of these, a girl born on the Yorkshire dales. When the Countess of Warwick, decides to take sturdy, gentle Rose to Middleham Castle to be companion and bed-time poppet for her youngest daughter, her fate is changed forever. Rose bonds strongly with Anne Neville, her young mistress. She also meets a royal boy enduring his knightly training—Richard of Gloucester, King Edward's little brother. The noble children have illness and accidents as they grow, but Rose remains a constant, always there to nurse and serve. Rose bears intimate witness to the passions, betrayals, battles and all the reversals of fortune which will shape her lady's life—and her own. Anne Neville will briefly become a Queen, and Richard, Rose's secret love, will become a King, one whose name has become synonymous with evil. When the King is betrayed and slain at Bosworth Field, Rose returns to a peasant's hard life. She has one final service to perform.