THE TARDIS LANDS IN WOODLANDS, WHERE THE Doctor, Ben and Polly are almost flattened by a cannonball that crashes into the scene. Exploring the area, they’re taken prisoner by rebel Highlanders, who’ve sought shelter in a ruined cottage in their headlong flight from the slaughter on the battlefield at Culloden Moor.
Offering to tend to the Highlanders’ wounded Laird, the Doctor sends Polly and the Laird’s daughter Kirsty to fetch fresh water – but while the women are gone, Redcoats loyal to the King capture the cottage. The Doctor and Ben are only saved from a summary lynching when one Solicitor Grey, commissioner for the disposal of rebel prisoners, orders the convicts transported to gaol in Inverness.