Thalia, a senator's adolescent daughter, moves from Britannia to live amongst the late-first century Roman elite, separating her from her childhood slave love, Aledus, and leaving her to wonder if their paths will ever cross again. When she's forced to marry a former consul, she must choose between remaining amidst the elite world to which she doesn't belong or escape back to the most undesirable corner of the empire with the one she loves.