It's two hundred and ten years before the birth of Christ. Rome's second war with Carthage is in its eighth year. Hannibal's army, yet to know defeat, roams the Italian peninsula ravaging the farmland and pressuring Latin cities to abandon their loyalty to Rome. Marcus Claudius Marcellus, just back from a successful siege of Carthaginian controlled Syracuse, demands that the Roman Senate give him an army to confront the Carthaginian chieftain and finally force him out of Italy. Over the next two years, Marcellus and his two legions pursue Hannibal's army in a subtle game of cat and mouse-Hannibal seeking perfect ground for battle, Marcellus daring to challenge a man who has tricked one Roman general after another. Three times the two armies clash with no decisive outcome. Facing recall in Rome for his inability to finally defeat Hannibal, Marcellus vows before the People's Assembly to destroy Hannibal's army in the coming spring. Despite growing criticism from his enemies in the Senate, Marcellus is given one last chance to achieve what he believes is his destiny. Timon Leonidas, a Greek refugee from the war, travels with Marcellus and his army as a scribe and mapmaker through three tension-filled campaigns. Timon tells the tragic story of one of Rome's greatest field marshals, detailing Marcellus' political battles, his strained family life, and his obsessive quest for unparalleled glory on the battlefield.