Scotland, 1628-1650. The land, usually pink with heather, was red with the blood of the civil war that stormed across the country fromthe Highlands to the Borders, from the North Sea to the western lochs.

These were the day sof the Scottish Covenant, James Montrose and Argyll, of Cromwell, and Charles I. Of fierce patriotism and unflagging familial and political alliances.

This was Katherine Fraser's time. And this is her story. A tale of tranquility undone by the trials of war, a time of testing her own strength and of her great and deep love.

These were the days of the national agony of brothers at war with brothers, and the never-to-be-forgotten agony it caused the woman they called mistress of the Highlands.