Maysa is a young woman and goatherd living in a desert. Taught by her long dead father, she knows how to defend herself yet, though her life is pitiful, she longs for love. With her brother they risk all by seeking out a better life in Jerusalem. Neither of them knows that a Holy Crusade is on the march intent on eradicating Islam and conquering that Holy city. For Serge Lescot, a master builder in France, his skills are commandeered by Crusader warlords so becomes embroiled in the conflict by building a Trebuchet. On route to Constantinople, genocide in Germany, massacre in Hungary then the intrigues of the court of Alexius the Emperor seem commonplace until he meets the murderous Godfrey Burel. While the Peoples Crusade march toward their destiny and as Maysa is cajoled into spying for the Saracens, Serge Lescot finds himself in the wrong place and at the wrong time on that fateful day of massacre.....and then the chase began.