To a China racked by famine and bloody civil war in the 1930s, a young English-born missionary, Jakob Kellner, brings all the crusading passion of his untried Christian faith. He burns to save the world's largest nation from Communism. But on the Long March, amidst horror and despair too great for Christianity to salve, Jakob becomes entangled with Mei-ling, a beautiful and fervent revolutionary. Powerful new emotions challenge and reshape his faith -- and entrap him for life in that vast country's tortured destiny.