This historical novel is set in the period shortly after the Restoration, when Puritan clergy had been expelled from the Church. Puritan minister Caleb Field chooses to continue preaching, and lives in hiding in the Northern Border region. But once the Great Plague of London is underway, Caleb and his daughter Edith take the brave step of travelling south to London, to minister to the populace, and provide help to the poor and dying. Edith also has a love interest.
This early novel is not in the style of most Oliphant novels, and moves very slowly, but it does provide interesting details of this historic period.