Philip Ralegh finds his inheritance from his grandfather, Sir Walter Ralegh, as great a burden as Gilbert Dacre his knowledge of his bastardy...

As Philip fights to preserve his identity in the brilliant and dissolute court of Charles II, so Gilbert seeks his identify in the rafish wold of the theatre and in the arms of the lovely Blanche...

A bitter legacy from the past entangles the two young men in the life of the enigmatic Charles II - a world of passion, frivolity and dark intrigue.