While Coryn and his companions journey to a wintery realm where mysterious owls live, the king becomes the target of an assassination plot and it is up to Primrose and Eglantine to save him.

In 1769, thirteen-year-old Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, begins a journal chronicling her life at the Austrian court and her preparations for her future role as queen of France.

The golden age dawning at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree does not unfold as expected, and conditions worsen as the young king hunts for the truth about his ancestry.