The largely untold story of the rise and fall of one of the most powerful, opulent and glittering dynasties in history.

It is 1494 when the tragic death of the ruler of Ferghana leaves his only son, twelve-year-old Babur, facing a seemingly impossible challenge: to live up to the example of his great ancestor, Tamburlaine, whose conquests stretched from Delhi to the Mediterranean, from wealthy Persia to the wildernesses along the Volga. But Babur is dangerously young to inherit a kingdom and, from that moment, his precarious reign will be fraught with danger, in a world of tribal rivalries, rampaging armies and ruthlessly ambitious enemies.