The novel begins by detailing the machinations the Habsburg heiress Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria to gather information, with the aid of her dowager aunt and her younger sister, behind the backs of her father Emperor Ferdinand II and his Jesuit watchdogs. Duke Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria becomes a widower in need of a suitable Catholic bride, while the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, whose armies have reconquered 80–85% of the Low Countries by the summer of 1634, is contemplating a dynastic move of his own which his brother King Philip IV of Spain will find a bit disconcerting. Veronica Dreeson and Mary Simpson meanwhile plan a trip to tend to personal matters to the Upper Palatinate border region conquered by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and administered for him from Amberg by ally Du