Oranje has lost the battle and most of his fortune. His wife Anna leaves him but is soon arrested and imprisoned on account of adultery. Three years after his first crusade, he is persuaded to try again. This time the Dutch people are fully behind him, and Alva finds himself forced to retreat.

The city of Leiden is under siege. Oranje decides to drive off the Spaniards by flooding the country surrounding the city. Willem marries Charlotte de Bourbon after his marriage to Anna van Saxen is annulled on a count of her insanity. Philips II appoints his half brother Don Juan as regent to the Netherlands, who arrives with an offer for Willem van Oranje concerning his eldest son.

Willem van Oranje settles down in Brussels, but the politics of the low countries remain turbulent. The Pacification of Gent is a failure, and his request to invite the French heir The Duke of Anjou to come and rule the Netherlands is received with skepticism. Philips II takes Cardinal Granvelle back into his favor, who proposes to excommunicate Oranje and puts a death warrant on his head.

Willem van Oranje survives a murder attempt but his slow recovery takes it's toll on the health of his wife Charlotte de Bourbon. Suffering from loneliness, he is advised to marry a much younger widow, Louise de Coligny. When she bares him a daughter (his 13th child), Willem spends most of what's left of his money on the baptizing. Balthasar Gerards arrives in Delft with one thing on his mind: to rid the world of Willem de Zwijger.