The year is 1 AD.
The setting is Samaria, in the Roman province of Judaea.
Mara is the beautiful youngest daughter in a poor family, seeking her place in a world where she has always been the underdog. When Yelsaventa, a rich girl from a Romanised family, takes Mara under her wing, she thinks this is the beginning of her future. But little by little, Mara watches her life fall apart before her very eyes.
How can she ever regain what has been lost?
Will a chance meeting beside her ancestor's well change everything?