AD 1193. England lies uneasy, a land without a king. Richard the Lionheart has not returned from Crusade, his brother John conspires to usurp the crown. On the throne, in the Lionheart's stead, sits Eleanor of Aquitaine. She is determined to prevent the outbreak of civil war, but there are few she can trust. Justin de Quincy - a man without title or land - is one of the few.

April: Richard the Lionheart languishes in an Austrian dungeon, prisoner of the Holy Roman Emperor. While Eleanor of Aquitaine searches for a way to free her eldest son, her youngest plots to seize the crown. When John seizes Windsor castle, Eleanor summons her trusted agent, Justin de Quincy, to do the impossible - mediate a truce with her rebel son.

De Quincy cannot but heed his Queen's demand, but he is already ensnared in another matter: the cruel murder of a young girl, daughter of an itinerant Welsh peddler. He is determined to bring her killer to justice and nothing, not even the threat of war, can keep him from pursuing her murderer.