Rolf is twelve, an Irish boy living in 796 AD. He sees his entire family slaughtered by Vikings and he is captured by them and taken to Norway. The short, stocky Viking chief would have him, a long, lanky youth, as his son-in-law, but Rolf will have none of his fat, giggling daughters. Rolf wants to be a Druid priest, but he has a memory like a sieve and cannot remember the hundreds of tales that a Druid must know by heart. He escapes the Vikings after they settle in England and fails the Druid trials twice. He becomes a homeless hermit and is rescued by a fine Irish lass who is Catholic. Rolf accepts Catholicism, marries, has a family and becomes the local healer. When his wife dies, he wanders off and ends up at a monastery and eventually becomes a monk. He has several encounters with Vikings during his monastery years. Before he dies, he asks to have a Christian-Druid-Viking funeral. The thread of the story carries the truth of history.