211 BCE. For seven long years’ war has raged between Rome and Carthage, devastating much of the western Mediterranean. Poised for victory in Spain, the indomitable Scipio brothers prepare to turn the tide, while in Italy Hannibal marches to the relief of his allies in the besieged city of Capua.On his farm in the Roman colony of Placentia, up on the Gallic frontier - Flavius worries about his youngest son Julian who he has not seen since the start of the war. But a new phase in Flavius’s life is about to start. A new job, as old acquaintances return, to offer Flavius renewed hope that one day he will see his family reunited again.But the tides of war are fickle, Fortuna’s favours, never certain while doom, death, capture, defeat and failure wait in ambush around every corner. Forced to navigate in an unfamiliar world where friendship is not what it once appeared to be - Flavius knows that one misstep could be his last.