The Normans have their Byzantine enemies on the run. After being forced to cede Sicily, the Basileus is resorts to reinstating his formerly disgraced Strategos, Maniakis, to stem the Norman conquest. Caught up in these political machinations are a pair of warlords: Robert, a former Norman duke, and Harald, leader of the fierce and feared Varangians. Their friendship, forged in the heat of battle, now falters in peacetime. Robert questions his own quest for vengeance, while Harald mistrusts his advisor's seeming lack of resolve. New loves are born and old ones rekindled. Meanwhile, the Pope schemes from Rome, dispatching spies and assassins...