The Hope is the new State of Israel, and its servants include Zev Barak, a young army officer who rises to become military attache in Washington; Sam Pasternak, arms procurer and master of shuttle diplomacy who heads up military intelligence; Benny Luria, fighter pilot whose finest hour comes over Sinai; Yael, the girl soldier with a penchant for powerful men; Nakhama, the beautiful Moroccan immigrant wife and mother; Kishote, the man with a charmed life who leads an armoured brigade through the desert; and, in America, there is the remarkable Virginia headmistress Emily, whose father is in the CIA. The towering story of modern Israel from Independence to the triumph of the Six-Day War is told through the bittersweet agonies of these people, who between them help create the Hope.