Why exactly he, the landed noble and samurai Hasekura Rokuemon, is sent as an envoy to the lands of the Southern Barbarians, he does not understand, but he obeys. Together with three other envoys, a group of merchants, and the Spanish Franciscan friar Valasco, who dreams of becoming a bishop in Japan, he embarks in 1613 on an adventurous journey that takes him to Mexico, Spain, and Italy. The mission is to establish trade relations between Japan and Nueva España. He and his companions are received like beings from a foreign world by the Spanish viceroy and the Pope in Rome. However, the mission fails. During the years of the embassy's absence, the situation in Japan has fundamentally changed: Christians are subjected to severe persecution, and the new regime has no interest in trade relations with the West.