1348: The Black Death enters England through the port of Melcombe; the people of the county start to die in their thousands. In the demesne of Develish, Lady Anne takes control of her people's future, she chooses a bastard slave, Thaddeus Thurkell, to act as her steward, and together they decide to quarantine Develish by bringing the serfs inside the walls. With this sudden overturning of the accepted social order, where serfs exist only to serve their lords, conflicts soon arise...