Templeton Richard Drake, or "T. R." as he is called by his friends, is a young veteran of the Nibian War who returns to America and tries to come to grips with his disenchantment and emotional emptiness, and the feeling that control of his life is "out of his hands." He finds solace in hard drinking, painting, and casual sex. He learns that the wealthy inventor of the "blaster-trapper," the mechanical arm that transformed the flip ball industry, has taken his life under suspicious circumstances, and taken with him to the grave the knowledge of the resting place of the Holy Grail. T. R. joins the search for the holy vessel, and his dreams and visions reveal to him his destiny; to lead a modern crusade of knights against the dark forces of the Islamic terrorist, Assama ben Licken, and retake the Holy Land for Christendom. His search for the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Spear of Destiny takes him from Mississippi to the Mediterranean, the Highlands of Scotland, the plains of Ethiopia, and the dense jungles of Mexico where an ancient temple holds the key to the fate of mankind. T. R. Drake's search for these sacred relics from the past takes him on a spiritual as well as a geographical journey, and ultimately reveals to him the power of love.