The year is 1537. Mary of Guise, young, beautiful and widowed, is the reluctant bride of James V, King of Scots. The marriage is arranged to strengthen the alliance between France and Scotland. On the border Henry VIII seeks a reason to invade. The Reformation is sweeping through Europe. In Scotland Mary finds a cultured, lively but quarrelsome court. She has to use all her wits to save her marriage and survive. Survive she does, to become the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots. This is the second of Walkinshaw's Scottish Reformation novels.