The story of a novelist who is sued by a doctor for libel because the author's best-seller accuses the doctor of being a Nazi collaborator who conducted experiments on Jews in a concentration camp during World War II. The story covers a 27-year period in the lives of these men and concludes with the dramatic trial in Queens Bench No. VII (QB VII).

Follows the life of Rory Larkin, who is determined to fight his way from New Zealand back to his native Ireland to help in the Irish struggle for independence in the days before World War I.