Miriam, a Christian slave in the kitchens of a wealthy Roman nobleman, meets a crippled stable slave and transforms his life. They are married in the church of Viminacium and form a Christian family as they struggle to gain their freedom. The lives of Miriam and her husband, Lazarus, and their two daughters, Susannah and Joanna, are plunged into turmoil when Aemilianus is summoned to Nicomedia to serve as Consul of the Empire under the Emperor Diocletian. The Augustus Diocletian, convinced of his own divinity and demanding to be venerated by his subjects, is determined to rid the empire of all Christian influences. Purges and proscriptions take place in every city of the empire. Many of the faithful are tortured and executed without mercy. It is a dark time for the nascent Christian church. A time of danger and sacrifice. A time of martyrs and saints.