When Jess is attacked by someone she once trusted, she flees to her sister's house in the Welsh borders to recuperate. But she is disturbed by the cries of a mysterious child. Two thousand years before, the same valley is the site of a great battle between Caratacus, king of the British tribes, and the invanding Romans. The proud king is captured and taken as a prisioner to Rome with his wife and daughter, the princess Eigon. Jess is powerfully drawn to investigate Eigon's story, and is compelled to go to Rome herself. There lie the elements that will reveal Eigon's astonishing life - and which threaten to reawaken Jess's own tormentor.