Salim Alafenisch's tribe in the Negev Desert is suspected of murder by a neighboring clan. When all mediation efforts fail, the father, the sheikh of the tribe, agrees to the most radical truth test known in ancient Bedouin law: the trial by fire. If his eldest son passes the trial by fire, the tribe will be deemed innocent. If he fails, four men must die as atonement. Thus begins a drama that unfolds over many years. Wars sweep through the land, and the old way of life for the Bedouins is upended. Ultimately, everyone finds themselves in the hut of a fire trial judge in Egypt. Following an ancient, magical ritual, he conducts the truth test, the divine judgment, with a glowing red pan. The secret of the trial by fire will not leave Salim Alafenisch. He travels back to the fire trial judge to explore this ritual.