Britain, AD 423. The Roman legions have departed, and the Saxons are coming. Some are peaceful settlers. Some come to pillage and burn.When a Saxon war band murders his sister and destroys his home on Rooks Ridge, the young half-Roman slave Hob is forced to make a new life for himself in the native village in the valley. Then Hrothgar and his Saxon followers arrive, looking for land and a place to settle. An uneasy peace reigns between Britons and Saxons, until Hrothgar orders the building of a great mead hall, Heorot, on Rooks Ridge. The building of Heorot awakens a sleeping menace, for not everyone can forget the murderous past. At the dark of the moon, the outcast Grendel seeks a bloody revenge.