Nell Thomas, the daughter of a Welsh shepherd, is forced by her cruel father to follow the Royalist Army Her brother, Gareth is a soldier, and is killed at Naseby where Nell is watching from the baggage train. Here she is discovered by a Royalist soldier, James Anstey, who rescues her from certain death. It is four years before they meet again. Nell is now seventeen, and has been sent by her Guardian, Robert Jervis to warn James he is in danger. Jervis is suspected of aiding a plot to restore the uncrowned King Charles ll and, under investigation, is now closely watched, but it is Nell who finally feels the full wrath of their enemy, and is arrested, and publically degraded. When James hears of this on his return from Scotland, he realises he is in love with her, but Nell is wary until some time later, she learns that Charles, now King of Scots, has raised an army and is marching south. A badly phrased proposal from James, has saddened her, and she leaves to stay with friends near Worcester, where she again meets James. The men are too busy preparing for battle, the King and his Scottish army have arrived, exhausted after a three hundred mile march, ill fed and clothed. But the enemy too are close, and on the day the battle takes place, Nell realises she cannot live without the man she loves.