Edmund Carpenter is born on the lowest rung of society in late 15th century England, and yet his mother has told him that his father was an Earl. His confusion is compounded by having had a privileged, lonely childhood growing up in a monastery, learning to read and write.
As he reaches his twentieth birthday, he leaves the monastery to team up with two minstrels that he had met on his first journey to nearby Bristol. The new trio are invited to join the household of Sir Reynold Bray, the close friend and chief minister of King Henry VII. There, at Eaton Manor in Bedfordshire, he enters a world of intrigue, mystery and romance revolving around Bray, the King and Queen and their two sons, Princes Arthur and Henry.
What Edmund discovers at Eaton, while revealing his true identity, will, for better or for worse, dictate his life's course and potentially change the future of the realm.