The Byzantine Empire spirals from greatness to disaster in the eleventh century. Can one woman's thirst for revenge stop its decline? At the center of Byzantine society, young Anna Dalassena lives with her grandparents among the most powerful men and women in Constantinople until the cutthroat politics of the Great Palace sends the family into exile. Her bleak situation turns promising after meeting the handsome young soldier, John Comnenus, and his brother Isaac, before they can return to Constantinople. The vicious power struggles, uprisings, and betrayals at the highest levels of the empire push Anna and John to its center as they struggle to deal with their own tragedies. When rebellion puts her life and those of everyone Anna loves at risk, is the reward - a throne for her family and vengeance for a terrible death - too big a gamble?

Constantinople 1057. The magnificent Byzantine Empire continues to exist only because its enemies have not yet realized how years of corrupt rulers have weakened it. A new emperor, Isaac I Comnenus, seizes the throne expecting to reverse the decline but is overwhelmed by an empty treasury, a troublesome patriarch, and invaders at every border. Isaac struggles against foes both in Constantinople and at the borders, while his brother John shrinks from his growing responsibilities to the dismay of his wife, Anna Dalassena. Anna’s disappointment in her husband is outweighed only by her horror at her enemy’s, Constantine Ducas’s, growing importance. Her husband’s reluctance and the turbulence of these troubled years finally forces Anna to recognize her own pivotal role in the destiny of the empire’s fortunes and that of her family.