Having grown up in the shelter of his home and family on the idyllic Greek island of Hios, young Alexios has dreams, of seeing more of the world that lies beyond. Against the wishes of an autocratic father and worries of his loving mother and sister, Alexios begins a journey that will take him to the mysterious shores of Anatolia. His quest for fortune and glory presents the challenge of evading danger in a land where bitter rivalries between politics, religion and cultures exists. He soon finds himself at the foreboding and cursed estate of the nobleman John of Trebizond. The noble John had selfishly betrayed his people in a time when the invading Ottoman Empire took over the land now known as Turkey. When confronted with the tormented spirit of this Nobleman, John Kakourgos (John the evil one), Alexios must gather the courage, that he did not know he possessed, to face the ghostly specter and meet a demand, without regard to the potential loss of his own soul.