Salvatore Todaro is the captain of the Cappellini. He leads in his own way. The bow is reinforced with steel in the off chance an opportunity to ram a ship arises and his crew is armed with daggers should a hand-to-hand battle...

This is the tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant so good that he is often mistaken for simple-minded, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination. Life in their isolated pastoral village Inviolata is dominated by...