In AD1215, Gervase Pitt inadvertently becomes involved in affairs of state when he's called upon to attend Runnymede to witness sealing of the Great Charter (later known as Magna Carta). Thinking he isn't directly affected, he's concerned to discover he must investigate the death of a rebel baron's retainer at Windsor, later that day. Unable immediately to resolve matters, he finds himself increasingly tied up in events which will lead...