L.A. private eye Sam Black, who lives with his half-brother, Andrew, travels to the Bahamas to assist Abigail Marx, a woman who believes her husband is stealing money from their company.
Monroe Stahr, a successful movie producer, pursues a beautiful and elusive young woman — all the while working himself to death.
The devious general Cethegus plays the Byzantine and Gothic forces against each other for his own gain.
A Roman noble, Cethegus, tries to start a war, setting the Ostrogoths and their Queen, Amalasuntha, against the Byzantine Emperor Justinian; Cethegus wants to swoop in after they have destroyed each other and create a new Roman Empire from their combined kingdoms; however, he does not factor into his plans the vagaries of love and the personal integrity of the people in both kingdoms.
Following a nervous breakdown, Gwen takes up the job of head teacher in the small village of Haddaby. There she can benefit from the tranquillity and peace, enabling her to recover fully. But under the facade of idyllic country life she slowly unearths the frightening reality of village life in which the inhabitants are followers of a menacing satanic cult with the power to inflict indiscriminate evil and death if crossed.