When a widow’s family moves to the big city, two of her sons become romantic rivals, with deadly results.

Spain in the 1930s is the place to be for a man of action like Robert Jordan. There is a civil war going on and Jordan who has joined up on the side that appeals most to idealists of that era — like Ernest Hemingway and his friends — has been given a high-risk assignment up in the mountains. He awaits the right time to blow up a bridge in a cave.

In 1500, Duke Cesare Borgia hopes to marry his sister (widowed by poison) to the heir apparent of Ferrara, which impedes his conquest of central Italy. On this delicate mission he sends Andrea Orsini, his sister’s lover and nearly as unscrupulous as himself. En route, Orsini meets Camilla Verano, wife of the count of Citta’ del Monte (Borgia’s next intended conquest); and sentiment threatens to turn him against his deadly master, whom no one betrays twice…