After Paul-Muad'Dib walks off into the desert and is presumed dead, his mother, Jessica, returns to Dune to assist sixteen-year-old regent Alia, who is trying to counteract the propaganda spread by Bronso of Ix but does not know that Paul had charged him with the task when they were boyhood friends.

Relates the story of Paul Maud'Dib's holy war, set between the action of Frank Herbert's "Dune" and "Dune Messiah," as he builds his empire, questions his own power, and becomes the Messiah while wondering who is plotting against him and if he is going insane.