In 1524 Sir Thomas Blunt and his young cousin reach Goa in search of the fabled kingdom of Prester John. Instead, they discover an exotic and capricious land whose wealth far exceeds their wildest dreams.

But in Delhi the Blunts incur the displeasure of the Muslim shah, and are forced into an alliance with his sworn enemy, Babur "The Lion," a robber chieftain out of Central Asia. Descendant of Genghis Khan, Babur is a legendary warrior, and leads his people through the Khyber Pass to conquer the great cities of Delhi and Agra. Thus begins one of the most glittering dynasties in history - the Moghuls.

For it was the Great Moghuls who built the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort, and whose monumental feats are recorded in architecture across the subcontinent. And the fortunes of the Blunt family - soldiers and counsellors, generals and ambassadors - are mirrored in the lives and lusts, ambitions and avarices, triumphs and defeats of that brilliant and volatile race

This is the story of the lives and lusts, ambitions and avarices, triumphs and defeats of the Moghuls, and of the English family who witnessed and participated in it all.