The sons of Colonel Beverley, a cavalry officer who died at the Battle of Naseby, appear to have died when his house in Arnwood is burned down by parliamentary soldiers, that is, in favor of the English Parliament in front of the King. However, they manage to escape and are saved by Jacob Armitage, forest ranger, in his country house in the New Forest, an area in southern England that includes large expanses of pasture land, shrubs and ancient forests.