It's been a long, cold winter, and the Vikings are suffering major food shortages. Many of the men have left on a long voyage. In their absence, Björn, son of the village chief, Gandalf-the-mad, has been left in charge. Which is not good news for Thorgal, a young skald of mysterious origins, marginalized by the Viking tribe. Lucky for him, he has the beautiful Aaricia to look out for him. When Thorgal's singing attracts three whales into the bay, the villagers hope they might finally be able to feed themselves. But something tells Thorgal that these are no ordinary whales...

Thorgal, a young skald living a tenuous existence within a Viking tribe, has given his word to save the Minkelsönn sisters, who have been cursed to live as whales. The village is starving, though, and Thorgal has very little time to save the sisters' souls before they kill the whales for their meat. He sets off on an adventure to beg the gods for their help. But Freyja, Odin, Ænir, and the rest of the Norse gods are not so easily bargained with. Thorgal will have to use all of his cunning, singing, and luck to save the Norn sisters...

In the next chapter of the saga of the skald's early years, Thorgal is in love! He and Aaricia are talking of marriage, of running away, of a future together. But Aaricia's father, Gandalf-the-Mad, has other plans. A dozen handsome, strong, and mostly intelligent suitors have shown up to the summer festival of Sigrblót to fight for her hand in marriage. But there is another mysterious guest on hand for the festival: Runa, a shieldmaiden, who comes bearing a kingly gift for the village lord. But what is the true reason behind her visit?

In the next chapter of Thorgal's early years, Aaricia has been captured. It's up to the young hero to save his beloved from the savage berserkers—unless one of his rivals gets there first. There's Sigurd, the handsome drakkar captain speeding across the waves in pursuit of the berserkers, and Nigürd, the jarl's squirrel-toothed son, who might have more up his sleeve than meets the eye... They'll have to work together to survive the stormy sea and have any hope of rescuing Aaricia before the berserkers' chief, Moldi-the-Furious, decides her fate.

Young Thorgal is no closer to finding peace and calm, and neither are those close to him. Aaricia's companions are about to be tortured by her own brother, and she finds no help in Thorgal, who is off on a desperate search for Hierulf. The wise man narrowly escaped death on the Sacrificial Rock, but hasn't been seen since... Is he even still alive? Meanwhile, Gandalf-the-Mad is keeping a beautiful woman prisoner in a windbeaten tower. But this fiery-haired queen may have more to her than meets the eye...

After years of torment, the Queen of the Frozen Seas has finally escaped the clutches of Gandalf-the-Mad... and it appears that she knows something of Thorgal's origins. In order to find him, though, she'll have to survive in an unfamiliar world that seems bent on revenge. Could Slivia be the last of her kind? Plus, Thorgal is desperately searching for the love of his life, lost at sea in a storm. He prays to all the gods and goddesses that, against all hope, Aaricia is somehow alive...