This action-packed story retells the Beowulf tale, but sets it in England at the time of St. Paulinus, first Archbishop of York. Young Beorn a lame youth of fifteen, had little hope of becoming a thane or knight in King Edwins English court. However, when the Norse hunter Bjarki-a traveler from Geatland, descendant of the first Beowulf-takes Beorn on as an apprentice thane, Beorn becomes involved in adventures he never dreamed of: slaying of the Grendel, uncovering and foiling a conspiracy against the King, and finally the conversion of Northumbria to Christianity.