The arrival of new slave girls in a frontier city in Noricum causes a row that ripples all the way to the mayor's manse.

Set in Ancient Rome, Crimson and Steel reveals the fates of two pairs of lovers. Marcus is a Roman general stationed in Noricum. Taciturn and efficient, he keeps order on the frontier as well as in the city. Kell is a willowy young slave girl of Nordic origin recently purchased by Marcus. Not new to service, she seeks to learn how to best serve her new master.

Asmin is also no stranger to bondage, having been trained in the seraglios of the East as a pleasure slave. Hailing from the mountains of Armenia, she seeks only a rich master to purchase her from the slaver Javad so she may escape the rigors of the road. Things do not turn out as she had hoped, and she finds herself alone in the woods when the barbarian Ulf comes to her aid. A sandy-haired Adonis of the Germanic tribes, Ulf takes her in, and they become lovers. Yet there is one who feels he is the rightful owner of Asmin, and he causes much strife for Marcus, Javad, and Ulf.