Ever since her childhood, the young aristocrat Gisa has been the confidante of Elisabeth, the Landgravine of Thuringia. She knows how torn Elisabeth is between her love for the power-conscious Landgrave Ludwig and her search for a devout and simple life. Gisa sees Elisabeth protesting against the court, her donations and charity to the poor causing unrest. And she sees how Ludwig’s younger brother makes pacts with dissatisfied noblemen in an attempt to put them at odds with the Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich II. Gisa’s most pressing secret revolves around the banned meetings of a heretic sect, which she listened in to. When Elisabeth meets the fanatical inquisitor Konrad of Marburg in 1226 and subjects herself to radical religious rules, Gisa’s world goes entirely off the rails. How far can she stand by Elisabeth without sacrificing herself?
