By medieval law, villeins are illiterate laborers, living as slaves bound by church-state law, and sending their sons to die in constant wars. But the printing press changes everything. When a stubborn little group of brethren suffer alongside them, and teach them to read, a powerful bond is formed, of love and respect. Will the villeins still accept their yoke, when they are liberated from the ignorance that has shackled them? Will they accept the pacifist ideals of brethren, or become blind with revolutionary rage?