A Strange Destiny is the beginning of an adventure which unites two unlikely lovers from opposite ends of early 20th century Europe's cast system: Gisselle von Strobl: The beautiful German Baroness who has never known want or need. She looks down her nose at those less fortunate and considers herself better than the millions who suffer to keep her and her kind in affluence. Blaise Pierre DuPont: He begins life as a John Doe: the unwanted bastard of a French prostitute who grows up in abject poverty and spends most of his life as a criminal in the Les Apaches crime gang of Paris. As the two grow to adulthood, the continent of Europe is ravaged by a terrible world war that wreaks havoc on their lives and their native lands. As it consumes the unwashed masses of Europe's poverty stricken population, it also brings the mighty European Royal Line to utter destruction. As a result of its devastating effect on both their lives, Blaise and Gisselle are forced to flee to the New World, where their union will alter the fate of a great nation and shape the 20th century into the American Century