The famous witch hunt in Zugarramurdi, the burning of heretics in Logrono in 1610, the secret prisons of the Spanish Inquisition, the buccaneers of La Hispaniola Island, the Brethern of the Brothers of the Coast and the libertarian republic they tried to establish in Tortuga island, the Basque pirates of the Caribbean sea... Joanes de Sagarmin, the main character and narrator of this novel, lives all those adventures after fleeing from the small village of Zugarramurdi, Navarra, in the north of Spain. Pursued by the Inquisition, he takes shelter among other orphans and fugitives from justice, first in the south of France, among the terrible Basque corsairs, and later in the New World. There, he becomes a musician for a pirate's crew. During his eventful life, the fate of Joanes is always connected to the charming and cruel Kuthun and to Morguy, the young and mysterious clairvoyant who is Inquisitor Lancre's assistant.