The events of the first half of the novel take place in Persia (today's Iran) and Central Asia in the 11th century, and revolve around the scientist, philosopher and poet Omar Khayyam. It tells the story of setting up the Rubaiyat tents throughout the history of the Seljuk state, the interactions with historical figures such as the vizier Nizam al-Mulk and Hasan al-Sabah, the leader of the Assassins, and the love affair with a female poet from the Samarkand court. The second part documents the efforts of American novelist Benjamin Lessig to obtain the original copy of the Rubaiyat, and witnesses Persian history through the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1907, only to lose the manuscript in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

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