Beset by threats from within their own ranks, the onslaught of the Franks, starvation, and pestilence, nothing less than the very survival of the Norse of Rouen, is at stake. After a failed raid that left his chieftain near death, young Norse warrior Gunnar Agmundson assumes the mantel of leadership. He struggles to find his strength as a leader in guiding the fledgling band of Northmen as they fight to establish new lives in an alien land.