This novel tells the tale of the rumors of war that circulated in Moon's Ottery, an East Devon village, during the time of the armada. The life of the community is unsettled by the threat of invasion and arrival of a mysterious Spanish sailor. Between Rosalind, a skeptical and shrewd observer, and Henry Suckbitch, a man with intriguing connections beyond the Ottery world, the drama of a family at the moment of change and a nation at a point of crisis unfolds.