In Graves' unique retelling of his life, Jesus is very much a mortal, and the grandson of King Herod the Great. When his father runs afoul of the King's temper and is executed, Jesus is raised in the house of Joseph the Carpenter. The kingdom he is heir to, in this version of the story, is very much a terrestrial one: the Kingdom of Judea. Graves tells of Jesus' rise as a philosopher, scriptural scholar, and charismatic speaker in sharp detail, as well as his arrest and downfall as a victim of pitiless Roman politics.