Étaín ingen Diarmata's forays into the countryside to gather ingredients for medicine and dyes often uncover more than simple herbs. When on one of these excursions, the healer comes across an injured Danish warrior, she does the unthinkable: she takes him home. The people of Clonbur are outraged. The sack of Galway is still a painfully fresh memory and, instead of a wounded man, they see only a Viking raider. When the young Dane disappears, apparently taking the daughter of the Harper with him, the situation becomes truly volatile.