As a young ophthalmologist and novelist, José Rizal arrives in Germany in 1886. It is not yet apparent that he will one day become a national hero of the Philippines. The archipelago on the edge of the Pacific is a colony of the Spanish Empire. The colonial rulers allow education only within the narrow confines of Jesuit boarding schools. And only the Spanish language is regarded as culture. Because Rizal has emerged in Madrid with liberal ideas, his brother warns him against returning to Manila. He recommends a secure existence in Germany. But he can do something for his people: In Heidelberg and Leipzig, Rizal translates Friedrich Schiller's "William Tell" into his mother tongue, Tagalog. The landscape shifts: On a tropical island, the Alps rise. In protest against the atrocities of Gessler and the intrigues of the Catholic Church, these mountains are depicted as volcanoes.