Emerging from the river mist, theater student Ella finds that she is no longer in the year 2019, but has slipped through time and space, landing in the year 871 AD in England during the time of Viking invasion. Dressed in a Medieval costume for a college performance of 'Hamlet', she is mistaken for a lost Saxon princess, Aethelthryth of Northumbria, and is taken hostage by a raiding party of Danes. Their leader, Thorvid, is young and ambitious. Eager to prove his worth to his older half-brother, Ivar the leader of the Great Heathen Army, he sends the request directly to the newly crowned King Aelfred of Wessex for a rich ransom and decides to deliver her to the English king himself. Aelfred is destined to become one of the most renowned rulers in English history, known for his militaristic savvy, his scholarly pursuits, and his piety. When they reach Uintancæstir, called Winchester in modern times, Ella is torn between the Danish warrior and English ruler as they maneuver around each other in volatile times where the risk of betrayal can not only cost your life, but your soul as well.

In 1999, seventeen year old Rowenna Porter and her mother move four hours north into coastal Downeast Maine. Grieving her grandmother's death, both Helena and her mom are looking for a new start in their little house in the small town of Peabody by Abiel Lake. Rowenna loves their new home though it is a little strange with flickering faces reflecting in the window panes and bumps in the night. Though always a believer in the extraordinary, Rowenna isn't concerned, only thrilled. Her interest is peaked when she is told of the tragic history of the camp and the cursed Tanner family that once owned it. The web tangles further when she discovers the strange connection her own family has with the Tanners and their murdered son, Gideon.

Young Haleth is thrust into a position of authority as the last of her house and the standing leader of her people after a brutal victory against an orc horde of Morgoth. As the years progress, she continues to be forced to defend her place as chieftain of the Haladin while maintaining a complicated relationship with a brooding Elvish benefactor, Lord Caranthir, one of the seven troublesome sons of the infamous Noldor elf, Fëanor.

A dark figure haunts her steps. Even as Luimëníssë settles into her husband's mountainous fortress at the Pass of Aglon, the blank spaces in her memory become more frequent. Frightened by these instances and driven by a coming change in their lives, she seeks the counsel of Queen Melian in Doriath where her brother Vantaro protects the ancient woods as a march warden. Luimëníssë is warned the fragile happiness that she and her husband have cultivated can only last for so long. For the Enemy is gaining strength once again. And an ancient oath sworn across the sea will never release Curufin from it's greedy clutches. Not as long as the silmarils exist. All these images are played back in dreams to Ivy McKee who, in the sweltering summer of 1925 in New York City, has agreed to become an informant against her charismatic employer who is in league with the mob. But there is more at stake than her life. The enigmatic Chauffeur warns her that perhaps her very soul is at risk should she get any closer than necessary to Smith. Ivy soon wonders if she is willing to pay that price.

Across the ages, their passionate yet dangerous bond has remained unbroken. She has known him by many names as Mairon the Admirable, Annatar the Lord of Gifts, as the sinister royal counselor in the last days of Númenor. As a demi-god in disguise, an elite craftsman, and a Dark Lord, she has known Sauron in every incarnation. And he has found her again across time and space in our modern world. New York City in the year 1925, Sauron seeks the maiden who has been his shadow since the beginning where she has been reborn, ignorant of her past. But someone else is searching for her as well to keep an oath he swore before Eru Ilúvatar, a promise to protect and save her from destruction.

Aeschild has lived her whole life in a village not far from the river Isen. As people of Rohan dwelling close to Isengard, they live in dread of attacks by the Uruk Hai of Saruman and the hillmen of Dunland. On a late autumn day in the wood, Aeschild receives a vision of a horse and rider during a spell of sleeping sickness. With omens of doom in the air, it gives her a pinprick of hope in the darkness. Hope that is fulfilled in the figure of Prince Théodred, second marshall of the Riddermark, as he rides to Helm's Deep to fortify it against the enemy with the Muster of the Westfold. As Aeschild's visions become stronger, it appears that her and the prince of Rohan are intertwined in their fates and their individual survival depends entirely on the other.