"I am called away, and this is the last I shall write to you. The Lord my God bless you, and guard you from all evil! So prays your father at this time, whose sorrow is inexorable to part with Mall, Neddy, and Billy. Remember! DERBY." The final letter of the Earl of Derby to his youngest children, written before his execution in 1651. Civil war, religious division, a state trial and execution of a 'war criminal', and the ultimate human sacrifice. All seen through the eyes of Paul Morrow, during the English Civil Wars in seventeenth century England. Paul is escaping following the execution of the Earl of Derby. He hides a secret about his master's death and feels responsible. Is he fully to blame for the death, or do other people have deeper motives?