Magdalen Deacon has forgotten how to live. Ever since her younger brother Peter drowned a year earlier in a swimming accident, Magda has been unable to focus on anything but her work as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She doesn't want to follow the path her socialite parents have laid before her, attending parties and charity events where she'll meet the "right" sort of people, but her life of rebellion, living in a small studio apartment in Manhattan and working nearly every moment of the day, hasn't brought her any joy, either. Nothing brings her joy, at least until the day she encounters a portrait of James Graham, a seventeenth century Scottish marquis who led an army of Scottish soldiers against the Covenanters in 1638, but was captured and hanged in Edinburgh. Drawn by a mystical fascination, Magda lays her hands on the painting and finds herself suddenly transported through time and into the bed of the roguishly handsome Marquis.

James Graham isn't sure what to think when he wakes to find a gorgeous woman in strange clothes astride him in his bedchamber. The woman reacts to his presence with confusion and mounting fear and keeps insisting that she's dreaming. Her unusual accent and bizarre behavior intrigue James, especially when the woman informs him that she's from the future, and is able to present objects, such as her "lighter", which substantiate her claim. James finds himself believing her, even though the portrait which she claims was the portal to his time doesn't seem to have the power to return her. He agrees to help her locate the monk who painted the portrait in the hope that they will both get some answers, but as the weeks pass without success, finding the missing monk becomes less important to James than convincing the woman he has fallen in love with to stay.

Magda knows that she has a rare opportunity to experience love in a way she never dreamed, but the fear of being trapped in the seventeenth century forever, away from her family and without the comforts of her modern life, prevents her from enjoying the moment, especially because she knows that history has decreed that James will be captured and executed. Every time James leaves on another campaign against the Campbell and his Covenanters, Magda lives in terror, wondering if this will be the moment when he won't return. When Magda discovers that the portrait has regained the power to send her home, she must decide whether to return to her own time and leave James to face his doom alone, or stay and try to find the key to changing their fates which will allow them to enjoy a future together.

SWORD OF THE HIGHLANDS is a fictional tale of the life of the historical figure James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, who was captured and executed after leading a Scottish army to a string of brilliant victories during the mid-seventeenth century. After seeing a portrait of the handsome Graham and learning about the tragedy of his death, Veronica Wolff decided that he deserved a better fate, and she has delivered on that promise. The beautiful Scottish countryside provides the perfect background for his heroic adventures, while his charming smile and calm courage are guaranteed to have you wishing you could travel back in time to win his heart and save him from certain death. You may never look at portraits the same way again.