It is the night of September 3, 1260, and the Sienese army is preparing for war. Vastly outnumbered by the superior forces of Florence, Siena faces certain defeat in the battle, an outcome that would destroy her prosperity and influence. Farinata degli Uberti, Florentine aristocrat and peaceloving scholar, is unwillingly drawn into the bloody intrigues of the thirteenth century. Exiled to Siena by his political rivals, he is led into new alliances and a stormy love affair that plunge him into a world of partisan plots, military cunning, and impassioned love. Tormented by his filial duty to Florence and his growing obligations to Siena, he faces an agonizing choice. His decision will inexorably change Siena's future-and his own. Montaperti tells the story of a monumental battle shrouded in mystery and myth and of the man Farinata, who finds that loyalty must dictate his destiny.