Dynamic Romanian multimillionaire Nicolae Carpathia’s sphere of influence steadily grows as he parlays his looks, charm, charisma, and intellectual brilliance into success in business and politics.

Cameron Williams becomes a celebrated journalist, his career skyrocketing from an Ivy League education to newspaper reporter, then columnist, then magazine feature writer.

Abdullah Ababneh, a young member of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, revels in his role as security adviser to the United States through Rayford Steele while facing the loss of his wife to a strange new religion.

Over the course of a few years, Carpathia rises to power within the Romanian government, manipulating people and events for his own personal gain and often resorting to murder and blackmailing to achieve his goals.

Airline pilot Rayford Steele's home life is suffering, but gains a truce-like quality, while his wife is concerned that he has already risen as far his career will take him.

Celebrated journalist Buck Williams becomes a feature writer for the Boston Globe, coming from an Ivy League education at Princeton University.

In Israel, he meets and interviews renowned scientist Chaim Rosenzweig, who has recently developed a formula that makes plant life grow in desert soil.