After a long spell of exile, Sparhawk, Pandion Knight and the Queen's champion, returns to his native land to find it overrun with evil and intrigue. His young queen, Ehlana, is grievously ill, magically entombed within a block of crystal, doomed to die unless a cure can be found within a year.

As Sparhawk and his allies seek to save Ehlana, they discover the evil is even greater than they feared, leading them on a daring quest filled with magic, danger, and heroic battles.