A gritty tale of Dark Age Britain, where heroes are few and the lives of thousands hinge upon the whims of greedy and unscrupulous men. In fifth century Britannia, the Roman colony has all but disappeared; the west and north remain wild and lawless. Plague ravages the countryside. Eiteol, a cloddish nobleman, manages to save the dictator Vertigern from an assassination attempt and the pair must flee for their lives. Deep down Eiteol knows that Vertigern is a monster, and that he should abandon him to his fate. But for reasons he does not understand, Eiteol finds himself bound to the man whose life he has saved. Their desperate search for shelter drives them into the barbarous west—where money has no value, the law has no power, and murder is a daily reality.