In late twelfth-century England, a thirteen-year-old boy named Arthur recounts how Merlin gives him a magical seeing stone which shows him images of the legendary King Arthur, the events of whose life seem to have many parallels to his own.
In late twelfth-century England, the thirteen-year-old Arthur goes to begin his new life as squire to Lord Stephen at Holt, where crusaders ready themselves.
Arthur de Caldicot, on his way to becoming a man, witnesses the horrors of the Fourth Crusade in Venice and Zara, as well as the downfall of King Arthur's court, in his seeing stone.