Son of a carpenter searches a new direction for his life in Judea at the beginning of the first millennium.

Jews are an ancient people living in the land of Judea at around 30 C.E. Augustus, the Emperor of Rome, has earlier taken the area under his direct control and now emperor Tiberius holds the land. The Jews are an old and proud people wanting to rule the land according to their own laws.

Jerusalem is the administrative and religious center of Judea. When king Herodes was still alive, he built the harbor of Cesarea, the fortress of Masada and even his Herodium fortress to the highest top of the Judean desert. The most important of his building projects was the expansion of the Second temple in Jerusalem. At last the Jews have a worthy place for their god Yahweh, whose name should not be spoken. The temple has, in addition to the priestly quarters, a large inner forum for debate, money exchange and preparation of offerings.

There are many Jewish groups in Judea. Zealots oppose violently the Roman conquest. They want the whole nation to start a rebellion. Sadducees come from the upper classes of society and are traditionalists, but they co-operate with the Romans. Pharisees are nationalists from the lower clergy and a counterforce the sadducees. They follow the Jewish law very closely and oppose the Roman occupation. Publicans are despised tax collectors, from whom the Romans buy their taxes. Essenes oppose the temple cult and follow the Jewish law in a different manner than the others.

Galilee is a remote part of the northern Judea. The local mountains have kept its culture separate from the rest of the inhabitants in the province. Their interpretation of Yahweh's message and its manifestation in everyday life differs from the habits of the urban population of Jerusalem. Galilee is governed by the tetrarch Herodes Antipas who built his administrative town Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee ten years ago. In the north lies Capernaum, populated by fishers. River Jordan runs south from the Sea of Galilee towards the Dead Sea.

Yeshua ben Yosef is about 30-year-old son of a carpenter. He lives with his father Yosef and mother Maryam in Nazareth in the middle of Galilee. He has four brothers, Yakob, Yosef, Yehuda and Shimon and many sisters. He had an eventful childhood, and for that the neighbors did not like him because there were quarrels with him. He had was in the habit of running away from home to debate with scribes and priests. Nowadays he is a craftsman like his father, and he can even read.

Yeshua has heard that in the Jordan valley there is a prophet Yoannes whose teachings appeal to him. Yoannes has gathered a group of followers around him, who take solace in his Messianic message of a king who will lead the Jews into prosperity. It is time to make a decision, join a Jewish group that will define the future of the nation and take a new direction in life.