Genoa 1298. Writer Rustichello is suspect of heresy, since he wrote the incredible story of his prison fellow Marco Polo. Apprentice merchant in Venice, Marco had waited for years to follow his father and his uncle in the far East.
In the Holy Land, the archdeacon Theobald Visconti orders Niccolò to take his son on the whole trip. After 33 months, a new Pope is finally elected, and Theobald's message for Kublai Khan will become of vital importance.