It all starts with a dare. Salome, a spirited young woman in Galilee, is perched in a tree and challenges Nathaniel, her smitten childhood friend, to climb onto a high branch after her. He falls and crushes a leg. Salome flees the scene in shock, abandoning Nathaniel.
When Salome discovers her younger sister, Mariam (the Virgin Mary), is pregnant out of wedlock after their older sister, Rebekah, has been raped by Roman soldiers, she tries to...