The sprawling novel takes place in the 11th century. It tells the stormy story of a gifted healer who fought diseases in the primitive conditions of medieval England and Persia and learned the splendor of the golden age of Arab and Jewish civilization. Robert Jeremy Cole has a miraculous gift: he can sense the proximity of death. He is destined to heal people. He goes to Persia, to the most famous doctor of the time, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), and pretends to be Jewish in order to study at a famous academy. When he marries a Christian woman, he first arouses outrage among those around him, but eventually finds his way to the hearts of the neighbors. He will be able to achieve what he always wanted: he will become a doctor, gain experience as a military doctor, gain a reputation as an excellent surgeon...