The narrative tells how Thomas of Hookton leaves his native Dorset to fight against the French in Brittany and, afterwards, at the battle of Crecy in Picardy. It is a tale of longbows and butchery, especially when England's archers swarm into the Norman city of Caen. And over it all, like a dream, hovers the Grail which is the epitome of chivalry and Christian decency, qualities which are in desperately short supply as the armies of France and England struggle at the beginning of what will be known as the Hundred Years War.