In June 1745, the news that Prince Charles Edward Stuart has landed on Eriskay reaches the quiet glen of Tullynessle, Aberdeenshire. Charles Gordon, Laird of Terpersie, and Walter Syme, the parish minister, must make a decision - will they support the Jacobite army in seizing the throne of Britain and restoring it to the House of Stuart? Charles Gordon rushes to the Princes banner. The Rev Walter Syme, recently widowed, decides to remain in Tullynessle to look after his family and to support his parishioners. Meanwhile, in the Brabant, Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, is watching events in Scotland with impatience. As Charles Gordons commitment to the Stuarts leads him to Culloden field, Walter Syme is making plans to marry the young housekeeper at the manse. Although the paths of these men are very different, the lives of their two families become increasingly entwined.