The champion

Stefan and Hervi de Montroi, half-brothers with no inheritance, meet in France.

Hervi is a professional jouster and Stefan, fleeing the beatings of an English monastery, needs a trade.

Despite misgivings, Hervi takes him on as his squire, introducing him to the travellers' immoral lifestyle.

He befriends a girl, Monday, taking care of her after her parents die until, pregnant with Stefan's child, she leaves, finding shelter in a castle as a seamstress.

Noticed by King John, she becomes his mistress in England, bearing his son and gaining a house.

Meanwhile, Stefan has returned to England too, in the pay of an Earl - they meet again at court and, now older, fall in love.

They have the King's blessing, but Monday's grandfather, now heirless, sees her as a way to gain power.

She escapes his kidnapping to be reunited with Stefan on the land granted to him by the Earl.