Left for dead by a stream and found by a kindly monk, Rhonwellt ap Mwrheth has spent the intervening years as a brother at a small Benedictine priory in southern Wales. His days there are simple and predictable, ora et labora — prayer and work. His life takes a turn when Sir Tristan Cunniff, an embittered, war-weary knight rides back into his life. For the last thirty years, each thought the other dead, with only fading memories of the forbidden love they once shared and its tragic consequences. Reunited and faced with possibilities neither could have imagined, they must decide where to go from here.
The answer to that must wait. One of the monks, savagely beaten in the village is brought to the priory, and dies on the floor of the church. Shortly after, the body of a youth is found outside the cloister. With Sir Tristan’s help, Brother Rhonwellt probes deeper, uncovering carefully held priory secrets as well as the truth surrounding the events of thirty years ago.