In which a solitary rider, marked by the tricoloured cockade and bearing arms, pauses at a Breton inn and listens to a tale of fraternal conflict and civil strife, where allegiance to country and kin cleaves even the closest of bonds. Through a discourse coloured with local superstition and martial urgency, the traveller is warned of the violent divides rending a once peaceful land, setting the stage for a journey fraught with grave import.