Two naive young men set out from 12th century England on a perilous journey toward knighthood “across the sea” in the land of the Normans and Angevins. This is their tempestuous tale of hardship, danger, and the search for power or patronage in a world teeming with deceit and changing alliances. Though maintaining a lifelong friendship, one courts the road through royal favour while the other looks to the law and business. Both espouse the qualities of loyalty, honour, and chivalry. One will rise to fill the nation’s highest office.