By A.D. 594 the Christian church has become divided into many competing sects. At a Syrian market, two Christian women are sold as slaves to a young merchant named Mohammed who is searching for truth as well as riches. One of the slaves, Lollia, is eventually sold to the Lady Paulina and taken back to Rome, once the center of the world, but now fallen into disrepair and menaced constantly by the hostile Lombards just outside the walls. Inside the city, the starving people are completely dependent on Bishop Gregory for food. Paulina struggles with the new doctrine of purgatory taught by Gregory and her own sense of unworthiness before God. The other slave, Amina, travels with Mohammed's caravan back to Mecca. There she attempts to share Christ with those around her, including a blind girl named Aseeyah, who embraces the gospel and seeks to influence her tribe in the true worship of God. As the years pass, Mohammed declares himself to be the prophet of God and begins to convert people by persuasion or force. In Rome and Arabia, Lollia, Paulina, Amina and countless others fall into the bondage of man-made religions and must learn at last to find true freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.