Canterbury, 1235. Two monks, Wilfridus and the defrocked Brother Thomas, have been charged to look into the case of Cecilia, an enigmatic visionary, and to report on her alleged links with the heretical Cathar sect. The two monks are immediately beguiled by the grace and courtly bearing of Cecilia, and moved by the story she unfolds of her youth in the courts of Southern Germany - a tale of passion and loss, and the consolations of music and the contemplative life. But even as they begin to find themselves drawn to her, they uncover a web of intrigue and corruption, stretching to the highest levels of the Kingdom.