It is 20 years since the Hengest and his followers were driven out of Britannia by Aurelius Ambrosius, and Childric, his kinsman, wants revenge and the reconquest of what he calls "Angleland", but he realises that it will be impossible while Merlin, lives, so he asks Angle wise woman, Morwei, to create an illusion of the Holy Grail to bring about the death of Merlin and lure Arthur's marchogion to their destruction - but will it fool the sagacious wizard?

English Dawn, the book to which this is a sequel, contained a core of history. By contrast, there is very little historical basis for this sequel, though there is a huge amount of legend, told and retold in different ways over many centuries. After reviewing all this, the author made the important decision to see Arthur as a post-Roman Brythonic king, not a medieval "knight in shining armour", and to retell the story from the point of view of the Saxones. The result is a truly original account of the grail legend.