England 1327, and after a daring raid, a prisoner is liberated from the imposing Berkeley Castle. Italy, 1334, and at the remote monastery of Sant Alberto, an eminent envoy of Pope John XXII has arrived to speak with a hermit that dwells within the small community. Who then is the hermit, and why would he be of interest to the pope? When the hermit is confronted with the ghosts of a long distant past, together with the envoy and a kindly monk, he relives again a past full of love, triumph, distrust and hate. A life of privilege and a rich ancestry that offered so much would eventually lead to ruin and disgrace. A legacy that would be doomed to failure. His love for two men would bring about the downfall of this man so desperately unsuited to the life of nobility and power to which he was born. Past memories are revealed and days of both triumph and despair are relived as the hermit confronts a former life, laid buried for so long. Can this tortured soul finally find redemption in the confession of grave sins from the past? Victories and defeats, love and death all play a part in the story of a man whom history has designated a foolish ineffectual character. A man whose fall from grace had led him from the glories of the English royal court to a dusty sun-drenched monastery in Lombardy where he had hoped to forget.