It is a story of men and women caught in the vast web of history in the making – their loves, their hatreds, joys, hopes, jealousies, griefs, their ambitions, their greeds, king-ness, cruelty, and the acts and omissions which these feelings compel. The sweet sad love of Khin U, a Mon princess and Kyansittha, the idyllic romance of Byatta, the king’s henchman and the sylvan maid, the simple untarnished love of Mai U for her forester husband Yin Maung, standing up against great odds, and the marriage of true minds between Anawrahta and Shan princess Saw Mon Hla, whose love rose from the earthy to spiritual heights – all these things are skillfully woven into an absorbing novel.