In which a chance encounter on a dark country road leads to the arrival of high-born guests at a modest inn, where conversation reveals the fervent zeal and restless ambitions of one Lord George Gordon and his retinue amidst a nation stirred by religious and political strife. The evening unfolds with a mixture of ceremony and uneasy intimacy, as the host and his companions observe with muted apprehension the fervid speeches and restless energy that permeate their rarefied guests.