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.
