It is 1349; England has been ravaged by plague and whole villages wiped out. It is an uncertain world, where people are suspicious and sick with fear. Anything can happen: there are no longer any rules. Whe the stolid peasant Creb and frail, unworldly Roland are accused of murder and witchcraft, they have no choice but abandon the shaky security of home and family for the chaotic and increasingly dangerous land beyond, their only guide an obscure map.