Beginning ten years after the end of Éire's Captive Moon, this is the story of how Agnarr Halvardson returns to Éire with the intention of settling there, marrying, and siring sons. It is also the story of Aislinn, who was a child in Ragor when the Northmen raided eleven summers prior but is now a working physician in her own right. She spent a year in Bangor Monastery and became a Christian before Cowan and Charis returned to take the children to Cowan's village in the kingdom of Dál Fiatach and returns there a decade later to finish learning all she can from the monks about their healing practices. When Cowan brings her a patient, injured and temporarily unable to speak, she can't help but find the strong, tall man attractive, even if such feelings unsettle her. Although sparks fly immediately, Agnarr's idea of wedding Aislinn-the physician who heals him when he is injured-is hampered by many factors, including language and cultural differences. There is also the matter that he is the man who kidnapped and enslaved Charis years before. Believing strongly that God gave Agnarr to her as a patient, though, Aislinn does her best. Her knowledge of who he is wars with her unwilling attraction to him. That he makes his interest in her clear doesn't help, as he goes so far as to seek her father's permission to wed her. Can she forgive him for what he did to her village? Can she love him if she does? And will she be willing to accept a life at Agnarr's side even if he does not love her? Meanwhile, other raiders from the North come to Éire's green coasts. Pledging his loyalty to the new king, Muiredach of Dál Fiatach, Agnarr prepares to defend his new home.