Set in the times of Charles II and James II, this is the story of John Ridd, an Exmoor yeoman, and his revenge for the murder of his father by the Doones His love for Lorna complicates the issue until it is discovered that she is the daughter of a Scottish noble, so that the impediment to the marriage becomes one of social situation This is soon overcome by her fidelity and by his services to an old kinsman of Lorna and to the king