Lucius Julius Claudianus moves from the quiet villa his father left him in his will to the slowly decaying city of Rome. The year is 235ad and the Emperor was murdered earlier in the year. The new Emperor is a Thracian and not in Rome, nor does it look like he will be any time soon. Lucius is not only trying to make his way through senatorial intrigue, but the social climbing of his mother and her ideas on what a proper wife would be.