An American reporter travels to his native land to track down a family legend that he is heir to the riches left by Ireland's High King Laoghaire. A Tinker storyteller confirms that he is a direct descendant of the country's fifth century ruler.
The newsman embarks on a search for the treasure but finds himself trapped in a time-traveling series of adventures. He is witness to the 1916 Easter rebellion and meets prominent figures of the Irish literary revival. As a staffer for a revolutionary newspaper, he covers the Fenian nationalist movement and acompnies their army when it invades Canada. Then his odyssey involves him in the horrors of the Potato Famine.
The American's journey into Ireland's past next takes him to Clontarf and the victory of the Vikings. Finally, he is at the court of the High King Laoghaire when the monarch summons all his Druids to prevent Saint Patrick from converting the pagan Irish to Christianity.