Scotland, 1722: on a windswept island an enigmatic poetess foretells tragedy and the birth of an extraordinary child. That child is the free-spirited Flora, daughter of Marion. When her father dies, Flora and her mother are plunged into poverty. Until her mother's former lover takes them to Skye where he swiftly marries Marion. When the Clanranalds are invited to a grand wedding in Skye, Flora finds herself irresistibly drawn to Allan of Kingsburgh, one of the mighty Skye MacDonalds. Before affairs of the heart can be resolved, the exiled Prince Charles Stuart lands on the Outer Isles and his arrival ignites the Jacobite Rising of 1745. Scotland is plunged into bloody civil war and Flora's fate is changed forever.