Nearly two weeks after the disaster of Culloden Moor, in April 1746, and one day only after Prince Charles Edward Stuart had sailed away for the Outer Hebrides from the harried mainland of Scotland, a vast fortune in gold, by contemporary standards, was landed for his cause at the very spot on Loch nan Uamh from which he had sailed: belated aid from the King of France - one day too late. At the same time, another sum, almost as great, was offered by the Duke of Cumberland and the government for the capture of the Prince, dead or alive.
Nigel Tranter takes this extraordinary historical situation, intrigued by the effect of limitless gold on men's characters, and weaves into its temptations and treacheries, its heroisms and self-sacrifice, the lives of two men and one woman, who risk all gold for Prince Charlie.