The year is 1680. In a remote prison fortress in northern Spain, Sebastian Dominguez waits for the Inquisition to decide his fate. After his daring escape, he joins his family in Paris, but danger lurks at every turn. Strangers in black carriages plot to betray and destroy them. The story moves from the royal palace at Versailles to Metz and Hamburg and into the explosives-filled Turkish tunnels at the historic siege of Vienna. Kings, rabbis, ministers, generals, bishops, dwarfs and numerous other colorful heroes and villains drive the story at breakneck speed toward its dramatic climax.