In Hizen Province, Father Joaquim Martinez has been quietly tending to the life of his village – but his faith is about to be tested. When the country’s military dictator – the Shogun – outlaws Martinez’s religion, his and the villagers’ lives are thrown into turmoil. Where once new ideas and beliefs had been accepted – with European Jesuits welcoming more than 100,000 converts into the Catholic faith – now the nation is shutting itself off from outside influences. Those who won’t recant or accept banishment face a sentence of death. With the threat of a massacre looming, and the Shogun’s Samurai closing in, Father Martinez must decide if he’s willing to risk everything for the villagers he’s come to think of as family.