Gordianus the Finder unwittingly becomes embroiled in a dangerous situation when he accepts a commission in 80 B.C. to investigate the case of an Umbrian landowner who is accused of killing his own father.

Continuing the epic story begun in his "New York Times"-bestselling novel "Roma," Saylor charts the destinies of five more generations of the aristocratic Pinarius family, from the reign of Augustus to the height of Rome's empire.