On his return to Capelburgh from his visit to the Twenty-second Century, George Crandall starts to implement his plans to make his demesne plague-proof. New houses, new habits, new diets, but even so most of his time is taken up with the day-to-day tasks of a mediaeval lord: peace-keeping, justice and above all, war. As well as a squire's wedding to arrange, George has to deal with vicious pirates, a case of rape, a dastardly witchfinder, and a wife who longs to give him a son. To placate the latter, George goes on pilgrimage to Holy Island, with results that turn his world up-side-down, but before he can fully reap the fruits of the experience the Scots invade, bringing rapine and sword to the north of England - and the lord of Capelburgh must be in at the kill with his feudal levies.