In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca, Marcus sets out across Hadrian's Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father's memory, and...

A young man meets and falls in love with a young woman while attending various weddings (and a funeral), including hers to someone else, and his to another woman.

The tale of an 18th-century physician who takes eight years to travel through a variety of fantastical lands, only to have everyone but his wife take him for a madman when he returns home.