England of the 15th century. Thirty years of bloody War of the Roses - the struggle between two branches of the royal family, Lancaster and York, the death of Richard III, the last of the York dynasty - is the background for the chronicle of the Morland family. The life of three generations of this large family is closely intertwined with the history of the country and the fate of the Yorks. Eleanor Morland is the head of the clan, the core and its unifying principle. She can be tough, even cruel, when it comes to the interests of the family, but at the same time tender, generous and wise as a woman. Until her death, she keeps in her heart loyalty to the Yorks and inescapable love for one of them. Politics - whether people want it or not - invades their lives, snatches some from the warmth of their family, radically changes the fate of others, kills others. But, as the main character says, “nothing can break a family,” she is the support on which life rests. And these words of hers encourage both the heroes of the book and its readers.