A stranded time traveler, Miranda, becomes a household slave in Pompeii. Her experiences provide an ""Upstairs/ Downstairs"" look at family life in the ancient world. She seeks freedom and love through storytelling; her stories enable her to comment on injustice and also to predict and influence events. She becomes intimately involved with the master and his daughter, but household rivalries lead to conflict and danger. This is a tender love story that brings together intelligent and sensitive people from different worlds; it brings the vanished city of Pompeii back to life through vivid and accurate historical details.