During one of his several adventurous voyages in the 1600s, an Englishman becomes the sole survivor of a shipwreck and lives for nearly thirty years on a deserted island. Illustrated notes throughout the text explain the historical background of the story.
In the year 1195, eleven-year-old Roger and his eight-year-old sister Alice travel through the French countryside in search of their ailing mother's estranged brother, a wealthy baron.