The novel begins in 765, when the young Saxon Nithard rides to Melina to fulfil a marriage contract his father arranged for him. Geva has to leave her clan and goes with him to the faraway Sudriholt. The everyday life of the young couple in the bosom of the extended family is described. Soon Geva is pregnant. The birth of Thor, the main character in the novel, silences a thunderous storm. The sunny years of Thor's childhood represent a stage in his own life. Time passes and his father decides Thor should become an archer. No one yet suspects that the summers of fertility and the years of peace will soon come to an end. Charlemagne, the young king of the Franks, who later went down in history as Charlemagne, had set out to subjugate the Saxon tribes, take away their gods and bring Christianity to them. The Saxons had to fight not only against the Franks, but also against hunger, cold, the forces of nature and wolves. Love, eroticism and tragic passions also find their place in this story.
