--Two decades after the birth of Christ Abi, a Nubian archer of Jewish background, resides in Meroe, a city-state in the general vicinity of Ethiopia. Once a member of a group of archers in training for the royal army, she has been dismissed from the palace because she is considered too attractive to be a good soldier. In her family's home, she receives abuse from her father and unkindness from her stepmother. Melech, a eunuch slave, loves her the way a gentle father would love his daughter. Abi helps him take care of the goats. --Negasi, Abi's father, swaps treasures with travelers. Merchants come from far-away places in the Roman world to trade with him. To reach Meroe, boats travel on the Nile when the water is high enough to pass over the rapids. --Simon, a Jew of mixed racial heritage, takes four boats as far south as he can go on the Nile until a waterfall forces him to stop. A group of the Candace's men assist him by supplying camels, horses, and carts to complete the journey to Meroe. --Negasi, tired of supporting Abi, takes her to the palace and instructs her to attract the attention of the rich traveler, Simon of Cyrene. Along with her former fellow soldiers, she dances, sings, and plays the flute at the banquet the Candace gives to welcome Simon. --That night, Abi's friends lead her to a mound, where they thank the Lord because the rain has stopped. The next day, Simon arranges with Negasi to take Abi as his wife. They make vows of betrothal. Although she has no kinsman or chaperone to travel with her, she goes without protest.