Joe Andrews is a history teacher obsessed with the Roman Empire, so when an old college friend invites him along on an excavation of the ancient ruins of Pompeii, he jumps at the chance. It's a romanophile's wet dream come true... until a shiny object catches Joe's eye. When he picks up a strange amulet, he's suddenly swept back in time to ancient Pompeii as it was before its destruction. With no way home and only his school-learned Latin to rely on, he tries to assimilate into city life, assuming the identiry of Iosephus Andrius, a traveling historian and scholar who becomes the house guest of Salvius, a local entrepreneur. Salvius' hospitality includes the services of Marcus, a personal servant Joe immediately recognizes from a fresco he saw in the future! Romance blossoms between them as Io teaches Marcus what it means to be truly loved. Joe would willingly give up his past life in the future to live happily ever after with Marcus, except the town's official seer despises him, a secretive doomsday cult views him as a rival and a threat, and there's a ticking time bomb towering over the city, a sleeping giant that's about to awaken....