The Roman army may have won the Third Punic War and given Rome control of the Mediterranean, but for Sempronius Viatores that's not enough. Making a living in post war Rome is getting more difficult. Semper, as he's known, doesn't want to be a carpenter like his short-tempered father. Semper wants to buy a farm. Land is the secret of financial security.
Semper must overcome his father's angry stubbornness, the fallout from his own infatuation with a fickle young woman, and a physical handicap that has defined his life. Politics seems to be an answer and Semper joins the ranks of the charismatic Tiberius Gracchus who raises a plebeian challenge to the power of the patricians and the Roman Senate. Tying his fate to the fortunes of Tiberius will endanger both Semper and his family.