It is almost fifty years since the legions invaded but Britannia is still a raw, frontier province. Tensions run high, especially in the north, where Aurelia Marcella, a young Roman woman fled from the ruins of Pompeii, runs the Oak Tree Inn on the road to York.
When a traveller is beaten and left for dead outside her inn, Aurelia finds herself confronted by a man known only as The Shadow of Death. The Shadow of Death leads a clandestine warband and they have but one message for Roman settlers like Aurelia: GET OUT OR DIE. Can Aurelia discover who The Shadow of Death is before his campaign of terror turns to outright rebellion?