Summary Three young women from Chicago journey to the Holy Land in search of the site of the Crucifixion. On their last day in Jerusalem, Maria, one of the young women, slips and falls while exploring a hill. As she falls, a sliver embeds itself in her finger. Amazingly, as her friends watch, her apparently broken finger straightens itself. The area around the sliver provides a warm tingle when touched. Following their adventure, the three take a taxi back to their hotel. A number of events ensue, including an aborted skyjacking of their plane, unexplained healings of people they encounter, plus numerous other happenings. Maria is instrumental in founding a battered women's shelter, and as the story unfolds, conflicts with drug dealers and other unscrupulous people develop. Is the sliver a Relic of the Cross of the Crucifixion? Are forces of evil thwarted and the miracles attributable to the sliver? Follow the adventures of these young women in Chicagoland as they encounter good and evil.