Jakob Hansen, a knight in service to King Christian II of Denmark and Norway for fifteen years, is being sent to Barcelona, Spain as the king's representative at the 1519 gathering of The Order of the Golden Fleece. On the way, he delivers a gift for England's two-year-old Princess Mary, daughter of young Henry VIII - and meets the enigmatic Lady Avery Albergar, the "Ice Maiden" of Queen Catherine's court. While Jakob is pressed into keeping Henry's secrets, it becomes clear that Lady Avery has some dark secrets of her own.