This is a historical romance set in Denmark. As this novel is set in 13th-century Denmark by a Danish writer, the translator has added some explanatory passages to explain references in the story that the average non-Danish reader could not be expected to understand. The story opens on a stormy night when a group of porpoise hunters and ferrymen are watching a large skiff struggling in the storm. They are all in a hurry to get to the castle nearby.