Times are strained in the Federated Kingdoms: animals are born deformed, crops fail overnight, and raiders strike from within the neighboring Kelmar Empire. In his backwater village, Lauren dreams of becoming a minstrel, the itinerant musician scholars of the Federated Kingdoms. His father, though, demands that Lauren train to be a warrior. When his father attacks him in a drunken rage, Lauren flees his village in the company of Ryan, a minstrel. Together, they go to the minstrel's college at Songhaven, where Lauren begins training as a minstrel. During his training, Ambrose - master of the college and a prophet - teaches him about an ancient prophecy concerning the Lawbreaker, a man whose battles with the goddess Mar will destroy the world. As Lauren and Ambrose race to forestall a plot to kill the High King, they struggle to learn the identity of the Lawbreaker. Then Lauren discovers that he is being hunted. Could it be the Lawbreaker? What use could that dark power have for a minstrel?