The year is 1686. Two men flee through the devastated Jewish quarter of Budapest as the Austrian cannons rain down death and destruction. One of these men is Rabbi Tzvi Ashkenazi, the young genius who would one day become known as Chacham Tzvi, the greatest rabbi of his generation. The unfolding story follows the parallel trajectories of Chacham Tzvi’s stormy life and the insidious plots of Nechemiah Chayun, a disciple of Shabbesai Tzvi. The two eventually clash in Amsterdam, resulting in one of the one of the greatest communal uproars in the annals of European Jewry. Neighbor turns against neighbor, friend against friend and brother against brother as the raucous battles spill over from the synagogues into the streets.