Prologue and method. Framed as the antiquarian lucubrations of the fictive Chrystal Croftangry, the work opens with an antiquary’s tone and a prefatory claim to dramatise late‑fourteenth‑century Scottish life: clan feuding, weak royal authority, and civic custom. The narrator disclaims rendering Lowland Scots verbatim for readability while professing fidelity to older forms and local tradition; his anecdotes (a London salesman’s sacrilegious attempt in Queen Mary’s apartments among them) establish privileged access to courtly lore.

Principal figures and setting. The action centres on Perth and its hinterland. Simon Glover, a prosperous burgher, and his daughter Catharine (the “Fair Maid of Perth”) provide the domestic focus. Henry Wynd (Gow), the armourer, is Catharine’s suitor; the volatile Conachar, later Eachin MacIan, becomes Highland chief of Clan Quhele. Local worthies include Oliver Proudfute the bonnet‑maker and Bailie Craigdallie; ecclesiastical voices are Father Clement the Carthusian and Dominican inquisitors. At court the rakish Duke of Rothsay (David), his agent Sir John Ramorny, and the physician Henbane Dwining contend with Archibald Douglas and Albany, elder brother of the king.

Escalation of private quarrel to public rupture. Civic life is punctured by masked assaults (Valentine’s Eve), the severing and exhibition of a raider’s hand, and competing claims of honour. Misunderstandings between Catharine and Henry, Conachar’s return to the Highlands, and rumours fuelled by Ramorny’s agents set the stage for tragedy. Ramorny, grievously mutilated in a street fray, nurses vengeance; Dwining and the brutal Bonthron become his instruments. During Shrovetide disorder Bonthron murders Oliver by mistake; the archaic “bier‑right” ordeal summons champions. Henry fights as champion for the widow, wins, and under duress Bonthron accuses Rothsay of instigating the ambuscade—an allegation that gravely taints the Prince.

Highland politics and refuge. Threatened with ecclesiastical prosecution and political peril, Catharine is sheltered under Sir Patrick Charteris and later by the Duchess of Rothsay; Simon Glover flees to the Highlands under MacIan’s protection. Eachin is inaugurated chief amid coronach and funeral rites; he declares love for Catharine but is shamed by his own confessed cowardice and later flees in dishonour. Torquil of the Oak and other foster‑brethren swear to defend him, fracturing Highland alliances with Clan Chattan.

Court intrigue and retribution. Ramorny and Dwining’s conspiracies deepen: Rothsay is isolated and secretly confined; accounts report his starvation in a dungeon, while at Perth the historic duel on the North Inch is arranged. Sixty champions meet in single combat; Henry Wynd fights for Clan Chattan with extraordinary valour, routing many opponents, shaming Eachin, and breaking Clan Quhele’s confederacy. Bonthron is publicly executed but secretly rescued by Dwining’s faction, revealing deeper duplicity.

Aftermath. Douglas intervenes, punishes principal perpetrators, and secures Catharine’s safety; Albany’s complicity remains suspected. Henry survives, refuses court pomp, marries Catharine and prospers; Clan Quhele dissolves, Douglas’s authority is enhanced, and the political balance—Albany’s ambition, royal grief, local memory—remains unsettled.