For ten years, Ned Melcombe, spoilt son of Oxfordshire landowner, has held sacred the memory of his first love: the beautiful, golden-haired Lewis. But seventeenth-century England forbids such a love, and Ned is content to indulge his domineering passions with the willing members of the local community, including the submissive parish cleric. However, his easy life is shattered by the outbreak of the Civil War, and he is forced to train as a soldier in Cromwell's army. Only then does Ned discover that the lover he has so long venerated has chosen to fight as one of the King's men - a decision which may keep them apart forever.