Hans Stalhoffer, a down-and-out former master of arms, receives an unexpected visitor: his old friend from the court, the former royal physician, is being pursued as a Protestant heretic and asks for help to smuggle himself and a sensitive manuscript out of the country. Hot on their heels are the henchmen of the Catholic clergy, led by Stalhoffer's former duel opponent, who still has a score to settle with the old warrior. A deadly manhunt through the snowy high mountains begins. Xavier Dorison tells a gripping parable, vividly illustrated by Joël Parnotte, set against the backdrop of a dramatic turning point in history: the upheaval of the traditional medieval worldview by the unstoppable advance of the Reformation. In light of the new freedom for Christians, old certainties begin to waver.