1592: Lady Elizabeth Widdrington is living at home, running Sir Henry's estates, when a young woman friend of hers suddenly arrives on an exhausted pony, utterly distraught.
Her husband, Minister Jamie Burn, has been murdered and she has been terribly assaulted by the murderers.
Elizabeth decides to travel to the Minister's village, just over the Border in Scotland, and try to disentangle what happened to her friend and also make sure that the Minister gets a proper funeral.
In the process she finds herself butting heads with the vicious Lord Spynie, the King's favourite, and trying to protect the boys who attended the Minister's school. Meanwhile her husband, Sir Henry, seems to be plotting her death.