Freedom is the promise that awaits Einar in Ketil's fields. Taken to Denmark as a slave, he is purchased by the landowner and given a chance to earn his release through farm work. His partner in that labor is Thorfinn, a fellow slave weighed down by melancholy.
Einar had once hoped to live peacefully with his family on farms rebuilt after English raiders killed his father and destroyed his village. A later attack by Danes ended that hope: they burned his land, killed his family and carried him away. Holding on to his mother's final words, Einar struggles to survive. Now he and Thorfinn work toward freedom while past sins and present schemes trouble their lives, leaving both men searching for peace and a chance at redemption.
