The story begins in 1252 in Chutreaux, a fictional French city, and ends eighty-six years later, upon completion of the cathedral. It is the era of the late Crusades, a time of relative peace and prosperity in France, and civic and religious leaders are cosmopolitan enough to know what is going on throughout Europe and beyond. The Flemish architect and master builder hired for the Chutreaux cathedral has built cathedrals in England and Germany as well as France.

This is a time when structures of soaring imagination and sophisticated design are put together with relatively simple tools and chiefly with the labor of many hands. As the narrative progresses, one of the most magnificent buildings in the world rises in the midst Illustration by David Macaulay for Cathedral by D. Macaulay. Houghton Mifflin: Boston (1973).