Seventeenth century England: Kate, a farmworker’s daughter, loves life in rural Hampshire. Stephen, son of a rich merchant, wants a soldier’s life. Conflict breaks out, Ensign Stephen leads men, including Kate’s father, into battle against the Scots. King Charles is forced to a peace treaty. With no money for the army, Stephen is released. Poverty forces Kate to become a servant in palatial Basing House, while Stephen studies law. Becoming used to their changed lives, fate intervenes. King Charles needs money for the Scots so calls a Parliament, but the Members want him to listen to their complaints. Bitterness increases and turns into insurrection, war erupts. Basing House is a bastion of royalist loyalties, Kate must support the King. Stephen volunteers to fight for Parliament. We see the civil war through their eyes as Kate suffers siege and Stephen fights in major battles. The hand of fate moves them like pawns as the fighting continues and their lives interweave.
