It is the year of Our Lord 1270, or 910 by the Julian reckoning. Brother Theophilus of the Abbey of Saint-Tranquillin le Troussequin is having a crisis of faith, and asks his abbot to be released from his vows to undertake a year's journey of discovery. Father Abbot agrees, but only after inisisting that the young and ungovernable Brother Gennadius, who needs the seasoning that a voyage into the unknown will bring, accompany the monk on his travels. Fra Théophile is forced to agree, and is also required to include a third companion, a loud-mouthed parrot named Rufus.