Although Fanny Waverley was raised by her adoptive mother to be a disciple of the women's rights movement and to despise the male sex, she finds it difficult to resist the Earl of Tredair.

A young slave girl, Anna, is rescued and adopted by Christians in 2nd Century Smyrna and befriended by their aged bishop, Polycarp. As Anna is taught by Polycarp and her new family, she struggles to reconcile her beliefs with those of the Christians.