In Iron Age Ireland, Maeve, the fierce, willful youngest daughter of King Eochu of Connacht, is caught in a web of lies after rebelling to avoid fosterage with another highborn family and an arranged marriage.

Maeve begins her royal fosterage but her new companions are full of secrets and jealousy, her only friends are an elderly lady-in-waiting and Kian, the prince who rescued her kestrel, Ea, and her future promises only household management and childbearing until someone from her past brings a message about her true love.