Deep in the forests of 9th-century Wessex, Dunston's solitary existence is shattered when he stumbles on a mutilated corpse. Accused of the murder, Dunston must clear his name and keep the dead man's daughter alive in the face of savage pursuers. Dunston will need to use all the skills of survival garnered from a lifetime in the wilderness, and he must confront his long-buried past—becoming the man he once was and embracing traits he had promised he would never return to.