In 12th-century England, fifteen-year-old Paul becomes the squire and lover of a Saxon knight, Edward of Aethelstan. Struggling to survive in the Norman world, Edward embarks with Paul on Crusade to the Holy Land, where Paul is captured as a slave by a Saracen captain. The love of the two young men is all that sustains them in their further adventures, where they eventually join with the Arab leader Saladin in seeking an honorable end to this horrible war.