The year is 300 AD. The Roman Emperor Diocletian is inflamed with passion for the young Hripsime. Fleeing his unwanted advances, the girl takes refuge in a Christian monastery lost in the mountains. But even there she is not destined to find peace. By order of the emperor, legionaries set fire to the holy cloister. The nuns are forced to flee — their path leads to Alexandria. Yet fate has a new trial in store for them. At the end of their wanderings, they fall into the hands of a ruler no less cruel than Diocletian. This is a story of the souls who turned the pagan world into a world of faith in the One God.