Plot summary
In the aftermath of a Viking attack on the coastal town of Combe, a young boatbuilder named Edgar moves with his remaining family to Dreng's Ferry. This tiny village has an alehouse, a small minster, and a nunnery on a nearby island where nuns care for lepers. A young Norman noblewoman named Ragna travels to England to marry Aelderman Wilwulf of Shiring only to find she is his second wife. He had put his first wife aside, angering both the king and the clergy (with the exception of his own half brother, Bishop Wynstan). A monk, Aldred, advises Ragna, who decides to make the best of things. She takes control of the Aelderman's household and her own lands in England. This annoys Wynstan, who had been skimming money from her rents. It also annoys his mother (Wilwulf's stepmother), who had been running the household. Ragna builds a reputation as a just and capable noblewoman and landlord and has three sons with Wilwulf.
Edgar builds a new ferry and befriends a Welsh girl enslaved to Dreng. Because Dreng prostitutes her, she gives birth to a baby. Dreng commits infanticide by throwing the newborn into the nearby river despite protest from Blod, Edgar, and both of Dreng's wives. Edgar gives evidence against Dreng at the local court, but Dreng goes unpunished. Blod attempts to flee back to Wales but is eventually recaptured.
Over the next several years, Aldred works with Edgar, Ragna, or both to address local problems, including bandits, corruption at the minster, acquisition of holy relics for the monastery, problems in the villages that pay taxes to Ragna, and attempts by Bishop Wynstan to produce counterfeit coinage. After Wynstan escapes punishment for counterfeiting, Aldred is sent away from Shiring's large monastery, where he had had some authority, to run the tiny minster at Dreng's Ferry. With Edgar's help, he slowly transforms the minster into a dutiful monastery. Edgar and Ragna develop mutual affection.
Edgar builds a pontoon bridge at Dreng's Ferry so the monks can hold a market to raise funds, but Wynstan and Dreng secretly burn it down.
Wilwulf returns from a battle with a serious head injury, and Ragna rules in his place while he recovers. Wynstan, Wigelm, and their mother decide to murder Wilwulf so Wigelm can replace him as Aelderman. Wigelm and his men go to her villages and kill local elders loyal to her. Edgar witnesses the violence and escapes, and brings Ragna a warning and her funds. Wynstan and Wigelm kidnap Ragna and her sons before she can flee to Cherbourg. Wigelm rapes Ragna while she is held prisoner.
Meanwhile, the king and his army attempt to pass through Dreng's Ferry to fight the Vikings. The king, who had chosen the route because of the bridge, is angry to find there is only a slow ferry. The king tells the monks to build a new bridge, which will be "the king's bridge" and under his protection.
Although Edgar and Aldred search for Ragna, they do not figure out where she is until Wynstan and Wigelm are ready to let her go. By then, she is pregnant with Wigelm's child. Ragna asks the king to name her regent, or acting Aelderman, until her oldest son can take Wilwulf's place, but the king needs a reliable military leader to help against the Vikings. He names Wigelm the new Aelderman. Ragna gives birth to a baby boy, whom Wigelm tries to claim as his heir. The king tells Ragna that he will not force her to marry Wigelm, but he will not take the boy away from Wigelm either. Wigelm and his mother coerce Ragna into marrying him, which neutralizes her politically. Edgar leaves England for France. He finds work as a builder for an Italian who is building a cathedral.
Wynstan seeks to become archbishop and makes inroads in religious communities. Ragna focuses on her villages and raising her four children. She learns through other women that Wynstan is showing signs of an illness called "whores' leprosy" (possibly neurosyphilis). She realizes she cannot tell Aldred this information because Wynstan will retaliate against her.
Aldred decides to build a new monastery cathedral to replace the crumbling minster. He sends monks to France to offer Edgar the job. They find him, but he asks if Lady Ragna is still married to Wigelm and declines to return.
After an argument, Wigelm takes their son away from Ragna and gives him to his girlfriend and mother to raise. Wynstan develops more severe symptoms of whores' leprosy, including memory lapses and moments of rage and confusion. Nonetheless, he pursues the archbishopric. Ragna, realizing she had nothing left to lose, tells Aldred the reason for Wynstan's erratic behaviour. Aldred tells enough other clergy and Wynstan loses the nomination. Wynstan plans revenge but becomes confused. Wigelm becomes angry with Ragna and puts her aside.
Ragna moves with her three older sons to Dreng's Ferry, then called Kingsbridge, and befriends Blod. By then, Dreng has a new enslaved girl whom he abuses and prostitutes. Blod and Ragna notice that the new girl is pregnant long before Dreng does. By then, only one of Dreng's wives is still alive. When Dreng discovers that the slave girl is pregnant, he begins to beat her. When Blod and Dreng's wife interfere, Dreng has a heart attack. Ragna makes sure no one can blame Blod for Dreng's death. Dreng's wife promises to free Blod and the other girl in her will, which Ragna has her dictate to Aldred in front of witnesses.
When Dreng's wife dies, Kingsbridge finds she has left the alehouse to Blod. Blod decides to stay in Kingsbridge as a free woman.
While Ragna is visiting one of her villages, Wigelm and his men pass through. That night, a very drunk Wigelm tries to attack Ragna again. She fights back until Wigelm trips and falls. She holds his mouth and nose shut while he suffocates in his own vomit. She drags his body into the canal. The next day, the people believe that Wigelm fell into the canal accidentally. Ragna rides to Shiring and takes her youngest son back from Wigelm's mother.
In France, Count Hubert calls for Edgar demanding that he explain the English custom of putting a wife aside, telling Edgar that Wigelm has insulted Ragna by divorcing her. Edgar returns to England, and he and Ragna reunite.
Wynstan continues to deteriorate. Aldred brings him to the leper colony near Kingsbridge, where the nuns care for him alongside other sick and mentally ill people.
