In 1448 an English master-gunner, John Hawkwood, arrives in Constantinople. He intends to enter the service of the Byzantine Emperor, whose capital is this astonishing meeting place of East and West - now in dire threat from the Ottoman Turks.

But even gunpowder cannot prevail and, in 1453, Constantinople falls to the foe. By fate the Hawkwoods have already changed allegiance, and now serve the conquerors in their victorious surge across eastern Europe and the Mediterranean shores.

Though showered with wealth and privilege, they need every ounce of political cunning to survive the swirling intrigues and bloody massacres which dominate the Ottoman realm. For four generations the Hawkwood men are military leaders and envoys, while their women are beautiful captives or dutiful concubines trained in the arts of sensual pleasure.

But always the grim spectres of betrayal and sudden death, of ravishment and torture lurk behind the gilded pillars of their palaces and harems.

An historical epic which relates the exploits of the Hawkwood family of master gunners between 1448 and 1572, the date of the battle of Lepanto. The story revolves around Constantinople and recreates the dying years of the Byzantine emperors and the conquest and magnificence of the Ottomans.