Theologians have debated for centuries whether there really was a historical Jesus. A consistent minority has argued that even if Jesus did exist, he must have survived his execution. Saul, a Pharisaic student in Jerusalem, is initially enraged at the tattered believers who accept Jesus as the Messiah, risen from the dead. He has been burdened all his life with hallucinations -- when Jesus appears to him on the Damascus Road, a new and terrifying abyss opens beneath his feet. The Apostle follows Saul - renamed Paul -- through decades of contentious preaching, extraordinary visions and an eventual tragic discovery. He recounts his story in the voice of an embittered centenarian, living as a hermit far from the centers of civilization.