Ajatashatru is ridden with guilt. What does a king do when, in a moment of misguided ambition, he orders the death of his own father? Ajatashatru wages war on his neighbours with brilliant new machines, expands his realm to make it a powerful empire and founds the new capital city of Pataliputra (modern Patna). But try as he might, he cannot shed his feelings of remorse and sorrow, until Gautama Buddha shows him the way...