It is seventeenth-century Scotland, and the Covenanters - those wanting religious freedom from the dictates of English rule - are gathering strength. Hugh Herriot, fresh from a Covenanting background, finds himself working for redcoat Colonel Claverhouse and his Lady Jean: first as the stable-lad and in later years, as galloper to Claverhouse. The tension mounts between the two sides of the divided country. Claverhouse, with Hugh always by his side, leads his troop in bloody battle against the Covenanters, through forest and vally, village and town, victory...and loss.