At the turn of the 12th century, England has been suffering from the heavy burden of taxation to fund Richard I's wars and the countryside was suffering from social problems with war orphans running wild. Richard I's army was marching through France to get back to England after the Crusades and looting and the raiding the French as much as possible whilst on the way. Robin Longstride (aka Hood) and his friends are archers within the army. When Richard I died in battle they fled and Robin assumes the identity of a English lord who has been murdered in an ambush. Godfrey, an English knight and an adviser to King John secretly meets with the French with a plot to make the new king unpopular and force the nation into civil war, thereby weakening England and making the kingdom easy to invade. Robin goes to Nottingham and gives the news to the elder Loxley and Lady Marian that their son and husband has died. They suggest that Robin continues to pretend that he was really Sir Robert Loxley who died and as the man of the house, Robin becomes a leading figure to unite the kingdom to stop the impending invasion of the French. (6/1/2010)