August 1100 and King William Rufus is shot while out hunting and rumours persist that he was murdered. Nearly two decades later, the wandering scholar and would-be troubadour Hilary the Englishman finds himself accused of another murder that he did not commit. Desperate and pursued by all sides, Hilary escapes to Paris to ask his old teacher for help. It is then that Abelard, the great philosopher, finds a new role as a detective - slowly unravelling the links between the two events, on a journey that takes him to Jerusalem to witness the founding of the Knights Templar and a close shave as he manages to miss the departure of the doomed White Ship - in time for his own crisis and heresy trial...