Gaspar must maintain the favor of the king of kings of the Parthian Empire in order to rise to the position his family expects of him, but there is a new star in the heavens that more than intrigues him-it beckons him away from the king's presence. The high priest sees him as a rival to his spiritual power, and Gaspar's life is even more complicated when he falls in love with the high priest's daughter. Melchior and Balthasar, Gaspar's magi colleagues, want him to travel to Palestine in order to follow the leading of the strange behaving new star. Is the star a portent of great evil, or the herald of a new king? The three magi encounter desert bandits, a Roman spy, and a murderer in their endeavor to find the truth of the star's astonishing purpose. Gaspar must risk losing political power, the hand of the woman he loves, and the life of a dear friend in order to gain the truth he seeks.