In 28 CE, a servant girl is found in the baths of the palace of King Herod Antipas, her throat cut. Jersusalem is abuzz over the death of John the Baptizer, and Prefect Pontius Pilate wants no more trouble. He coerces Talmudic scholar Gamaliel, chief rabbi and head of the Sanhedrin, into investigating the death. Soon Gamaliel begins to fit the evidence together. The girl turns out not to be the mere servant everyone assumed. The little told but critically entwined histories of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Herod the Great, Anthony and Augustus Caesar, and the Battle of Actium suddenly seem more relevant to the Gospel narratives than anyone might have previously imagined. Meanwhile, the figure of Jesus, the rabbi from Nazareth, with his ragged band of enthusiasts and his habit of annoying the High Priest Caiaphas moves enigmatically in the background.