AD 1270: The Priory of Tyndal, on a windswept East Anglian coast, is dedicated to love and peace. But Eleanor of Wynethorpe, the twenty-one-year-old new prioress, will find little of either. Instead, she will face lust, greed and murder.

I. THE WINE OF VIOLENCE: Only a day after Eleanor's arrival at Tyndal priory, a brutally mutilated monk is found dead in the cloister gardens. Not only must Eleanor struggle to gain the respect of her terrified and resentful flock, but she must also find a killer.

II. TYRANT OF THE MIND: In mid-winter, Eleanor is summoned to tend her dying nephew. A bitter chill pervades her family's castle: not only is it beseiged by blizzards without, but it seethes with murderous tensions within. Soon after Eleanor arrives, her brother, bloody dagger in hand, is found standing over the corpse of his oldest friend. Eleanor must prove his innocence before he meets his fate on the hangman's gibbet.

III. SORROW WITHOUT END: In the woods surrounding Tyndal Priory, the discovery of a disembowelled corpse wrapped in a crusader's cloak horrifies the community. A bronze dagger planted in the man's chest is engraved with a strange, cursive design. It is no Englishman's weapon. Could it be a Saracen blade? Wielded by an assassin?