It is March in 1361. Wulfric is 40, and Gwenda is 42. Their sons are in their 20s. Davey, the youngest, is a deceptively quiet personality like his mother, while Sam, Ralph’s son, is just like his father—handsome, strong, tall, but with a vicious streak. Despite the Ordinance of Laborers, he runs away to the Outhenby village of Oldchurch to make money. Gwenda discovers his location one day when Harry Plowman, now the bailiff of Outhenby, tells her. Nate Reeve overhears this conversation. Gwenda claims to be going to Kingsbridge the next day, but this is a cover for a visit to Sam. Her trip there is detected by Jonno Reeve, who tracks them there. When Jonno tries to arrest Sam to return him to Wigleigh, Sam kills him.

Caris and Merthin have now been married for 10 years. They lead a comfortable life in their house on Leper Island, and the hospital has flourished under Caris’s stewardship and that of the nuns of St. Elizabeth, the order that works at the hospital. Joan is now the prioress at Kingsbridge. Lolla is 15 and constantly at odds with her father and stepmother over her socializing with disreputable people like Jack Riley, likely her lover.