When Joanna Pengerran fled Buxford as a child to escape her murderous stepfather, she took refuge among the tinkers. The proud and wilful heir of a great family, she grows up with only one ambition: vengeance on the man who usurped and murdered her father. To this end, she carves a niche for herself in the Elizabethan underworld. Across her path blunders Angel, a fugitive from prejudice and superstition. It is a meeting destined to disrupt both their lives, to change them in ways they could never have foreseen.