Ransom Mackenzie's life is changed forever when he witnesses one of the Scottish Reformers being burnt at the stake. Soon the young man throws in his lot with the Protestant revolutionaries and John Knox, their spiritual leader.

His dreams of heroism end abruptly when the rebellion is crushed. His father is arrested for printing the Scriptures in the common tongue, and Ransom is forced to hide in the Scottish Highlands. There he meets and starts to fall in love with wild, lovely Margaret.

But his time away from the turmoil is not to last. Knox, facing powerful opposition, summons him to London. Enticed by the glittering surroundings of the Court - and the allure of a young woman of the aristocracy - Ransom finds himself at a crossroads . . . when a man can burn for his beliefs, and silence is betrayal.