Nicholaos was forced to leave his true love and becomes a monk to deal with the pain. He sets up an orphanage in Calabria to protect Greek culture and Christianity from the devastation of the times. In the meantime, Helena, his one-time fiancée, shows up at his relatives' home, creating moral conflicts within both their hearts. Also, one of his orphans, Alphaeus, relentlessly pursues another of his orphans, Flavia, who is in love with Iohannes. Iohannes comes to the rescue after returning from the war in Sicily. Fiore Cianflone's Where the Earth Meets the Heavens: A Clash of Cultures is an exciting, action filled, page-turner that unfolds in a small corner of the Byzantine world. Love, hate, and treachery play out in the war-torn period that marshals in the Crusades, marginalizes the Muslims and Byzantines and most of all solidifies the demise of the Basilian monks.