Raised by thieves in the streets of ancient Egypt, seventeen-year-old Hamet has successfully made a respectable life and name for himself in the palace of Pharaoh Seti I, who rescued the young man from the clutches of vicious Libyans during a time of war. Hamet daily performs the duty of wash boy, bathing and grooming the aging Seti. He lives in the servants' quarters with Keati, his beloved wife, and under the control of Throut, the Pharaoh's gruff vizier and highest governing official. When Keati is brutally murdered, Hamet never expects the swift, but necessary alliance that forms between himself and Ramses, the Pharaoh's visionary son and co-ruler of Egypt. Together this unlikely pair must race against time to unravel the evil deeds of Throut and save their civilization from the tyrants determined to destroy it.