Fifteen-year-old Hilden has been sent to live with her father on a US Airforce base in Suffolk whilst her peacenik mother joins the Human Shield in Baghdad. As a means of escape, Hilde joins an archaeological dig where the skeleton of a 6th century woman is unearthed, and questions are asked about whether she was a Peace Weaver or a Shield Maiden, pacifist or warrior.

Hilde knows the answer. Having stolen a gold brooch from the grave, she begins to have vivid dreams of Maethilde, a 6th century Saxon maiden and her attempts to weave peace between her people. Hilde tries to engage Maethilde, the Peace Weaver, to help her campaign against the war with Iraq and for peaceful solutions to conflit. But it’s hard for Hilde as, in trying to promote peace, she seems to antagonise everyone, including her own father.