England 1044. As dawn breaks over a summer's landscape, Harold Harold Godwinesson is riding east. He is newly created earl of East Anglia. But marrying for love sets himself against his family and his king. In France, William, the bastard son of a duke, is hungry for power. A charismatic leader, he cares nothing for the hypocrisy of court, only his next victory. And he casts his eyes toward England. King Edward is alternately influenced and angered by his powerful mother, the Dowager Queen Emma. Manipulated into a marriage of convenience with Harold's sister, he is at the mercy of his nobles - and he lacks an heir.