The Revenge is about a free but vulnerable woman called Gunnhild, from Vik in Sogn. Gunnhild is married off to Magnus Barelegs (1073-1103) – king of Norway, the Orkney Islands, the Faeroe Islands, parts of Scotland, Man, Anglesey and Dublin with surroundings – as part of a larger power ploy. Gunnhild, who has never met or heard of Magnus before, puts up a fierce fight. Her powerful foster father Earl Skjalg's has endeavored repeatedly to marry her off in order to build powerful alliances, but she has always run from his efforts.
Gunnhild, with her extremely independent spirit, is very different from other contemporary women from powerful families. Gunnhild seeks love and peace, not power and money like everyone around her.
Through her perhaps closest friend and confidante, the Irish skald Kjartan, who has followed her since she was a young child, she fosters a close relationship with Christ. He follows her down the treacherous path she has chosen in life. This quality impresses a man of the church, the Icelandic theologian Father Jon (1052-1121), who visits Vik from time to time.
Earl Skjalg strongly dislikes Gunnhild's independent and derisive digressions, as they greatly curb his own power and, not least, his honor. Earl Skjalg's patience is about to run out.
Tora, King Magnus' former concubine and the mother of his son Sigurd (the Crusader, 1090-1130) has no intention of losing Magnus to Gunnhild. Gunnhild's foster mother, Svanhild, contacts a local Sami woman with powerful shamanistic skills, known to often flirt with life and death. Tora, with the help of the Sami woman, Volva-Run, the earl and his wife, eventually gives Gunnhild the coup de grâce.
Only death can stop Gunnhild.
Or can it?