Returning home from the king's service, Baron Wareham finds his castle nearly destroyed by the elusive Black Demon and teams up with the illegitimate but educated daughter of a priest to restore his home, an effort complicated by mysteries about the woman's identity and the Black Demon's agenda.

Pressured by his family to remarry, Nicholas Monroe is unable to move past the mysterious death of his first wife, Lily, for which his brother-in-law holds him responsible during an ugly confrontation that reveals long-held and violently protected secrets.