1660 in Breda the Netherlands. Catherine de Burre refuses an Anglican Dean, John Wednesday in marriage-unaware he has blackmailed her father for her hand. Her father's fate lies in her answer. Martello Sanchez a swordsman of exiled Charles Stuart the Second, encounters Catherine in the forest. He is determined to make her his own bride, sending her a secret code: the call of a raven. John Wednesday soon discovers that his fiancee has a lover-a mystery rival for her affections. Catherine discovers her father's treachery, his sin of siring another child; the housekeeper Clancy's own dark...