It Was An Age of Expectation. In the years leading up to 1844, the entire globe, it seems, was convulsing with religious fervor. Both the Bible and the Qu'ran hint at the coming of a Promised One who would cure the ails of the world. During these years, in a desert village in Persia, two 12-year-old best friends dream of becoming great mullas and being first to recognize the Qa'im, the Promised One of Islam. But for Ali, son of the local mayor, it is not to be. One night his mother, an English girl enslaved after her missionary parents were killed, packs up Ali and after a breathtaking escape...