In the summer of 1765 Darsie Latimer sets out to discover the secret of his parentage in a journey to the wilds of Dumfriesshir. But very soon he discovers that he must confront not geographical but ideological wilds, for he is kidnapped by Edward Hugh Redgauntlet and involved in a last, fictional attempt to restore the Stuarts to the British throne.

His Edinburgh friend, the advocate Alan Fairford, seeks to find him, and finds modes of life which pay scant heed to the rule of law, and many who maintain a covert allegiance to the exiled monarchy. The violent past is repeatedly recalled: the oral diablerie of the inset 'Wandering Willie's Tale', probably the greatest short story ever written in Scots, provides a grotesque vision of the structures of an older Scotland.

It is this older Scotland which Redgauntlet wished to restore, but Darsie, who set out as a romantic, discovers through his experience a commitment to the Hanoverian peace. The text is based on the first edition of 1824, emended by readings from Scott's manuscript and proof corrections which were lost in the original process of preparing the text for publication.