Eleventh-century Italy: The Byzantine Empire rules much of Europe, but in the Italian states to the south it does so in the face of constant revolt from its unwilling subjects—a strife that extends from the great trading ports to the rich agricultural lands of Apulia. The Lombards, heirs to a northern tribe, are no exception and their leader, Arduin of Fassano, feels the time may have come to rejoin his brethren and rise up in revolt against their Eastern rulers. And so he brings into the conflict the fearsome mercenary brothers, the de Hautevilles, to help him in his quest to destroy the power of Constantinople.

Will the might of the Byzantine Empire crush Arduin's revolt? Can his ambitious plan succeed, or will the treachery that stalks the land play into the hands of the Normans?