As the sun rises over the Egyptian coastline, one of the world's largest private yachts steams towards Alexandria. Standing on its upper deck is Julius Caspar, billionaire oil tycoon and philanthropist who is returning to the city on his 80th. birthday. And as he gazes at the approaching waterfront he recalls his youth as an impecunious Armenian bank clerk in what was then the most glittering center of the Mediterranean, and his frustrated but ever haunting love for an eighteen-year-old heiress before his subsequent escalation to immense riches and worldwide recognition. Set against changing backdrops of pre-war Egypt, of Paris, London and New York in the sixties and seventies, of terrorism in the Middle East and famine in Ethiopia, all the aspects of human strengths and frailties are brought to life in this action packed three-generation saga, where a dramatic climax redimensions a man's destiny.