On the last day of December 1921, three men sit downto a fateful game of poker in the back room of a Jerusalem antiquities shopowned by a 3000-year-old knight errant. The game would last 12 years and have as its stake nothing less than control of Jerusalem itself. Thousandsjoin the game and lose vast fortunes trying to win the Holy City, but in the end only the three original players remain. Just before the final handis dealt, another contender joins the game. The destinies of each, and thefate of humanity itself, will all depend on a favorable turn of the cards.