An unpaid tavern bill leads Albia into a decades-old dispute created by the will of Appius Tranquillus Surus. The document freed enslaved workers, transferred businesses and divided rights to an orchard between two families, but the original will and a disputed codicil have disappeared.
Violence, forged claims and uncertainty over whether Cosca Sabatina's relatives were legally freed threaten a marriage that might reconcile the families. Albia must reconstruct the inheritance and expose the people who have profited from keeping legal status unresolved.