Connal Canmore tumbles towards his death from the walls of Stirling Castle. But instead of crashing onto rocks, he lands face down in the dirt. Bruised but freed from the disease that was killing him, he sees a city he recognises. It is Stirling, but not the same city he left. For reasons he doesn’t comprehend, this is a version of the place that existed long ago.

Connal picks up the threads of this new existence and exploits his futuristic knowledge to achieve material gain. And life is good until another brush with death sends him tumbling further back in time. As the years stretch to centuries, Connal is on hand to witness the birth of Scotland, bloodily wrought through migration and war. Stripped of his riches and his dear ones with every fall, Connal recognises within himself the seeds of change. But how will it benefit him if his only destiny is to descend, further and further back in time? He is renewed, but at the same time unhinged, for Connal cannot keep his grip on history.

Back in the twenty-first century of another Scotland, terrorists target the leading prince of the realm. Seizing this latest assassination as a judicious moment to strike their enemies, powerful clans jostle for influence ahead of the coming fight. Alliances rise and fall in the Caledonian court while the coming succession convulses the old guard. And when finally, the aggressor nation is revealed, only one obstacle restrains this nation from unleashing a shockwave of revenge. The old king is dying, and with his passing, Caledonia will choose a new sovereign and go to war.