The Village is beautiful, a place of order and security, but it harbours three outsiders-Ellen the tinker's daughter, returning with her father to the place where he grew up, a freewoman among serfs, William, whose father is Lord of the Manor, and Sam, who is 'different'. As each strives to find their identity and their place in a world where they can never fully feel accepted, they are unexpectedly faced with a bigger challenge: the Black Death. How will they cope with the terror that is all around them? What inner resources can they find to make sense of life? In the face of such devastation, can things ever be the same, or what new world should they build? As each of them tells their story, we see the glimmerings of hope and new life in the midst of great uncertainty. Ellen, William and Sam-three young people with an extraordinary challenge to face.