During an attack by Prince John's men on the village of Kingsgrove, Olwyn's acolyte Rowena accidentally sends Robin fifteen years back into the past, where he inadvertantly alters the course of history by rescuing a man who becomes a despotic king. Mortiana is working for him, and she has a magic duel with Rowena, from which Robin has to rescue Rowena before she is killed. The two of them have to work out how to undo Robin's act in the past.

Robin plans a surprise birthday party for Marion, but is killed while defending her in a fight to capture some of Prince John's gold. Because he died too early, his soul is sent back to Earth, but has to find another body to inhabit, as his has already been cremated. Robin is helped by Ripley, an envoy from the realm of the dead, who enables Robin to temporarily take over the body of the man he has just killed, Briggs, and by Olwyn's apprentice, Rowena, who tries to get him his own body back.