Everything is suspicious. No one is safe. And in the ducal palace, everything is regret. Europe is torn apart in war. France is fighting Austria and England, and Venice defends its neutrality, but the voracious French troops of the ambitious General Bonaparte have spread throughout Venice and spread their poison through his agents. Instead of subduing the rebels, the militias hastily assembled by the Venetian foremen have thrown themselves like a horde against the disciplined French, ready to launch themselves like wolves against the Serene Republic. While Venice still sleeps safely surrounded by its lagoon, with the Council hastily summoned by the doge, the fists hit the rich wood tables and the accusations with damning indices echo thunderous, even after the extremely urgent meeting is closed. Marco Lascaris, a salt merchant, a descendant of an ancient Byzantine lineage, does not suspect that this secret meeting has endangered his life and that of his family, in an inexorable countdown. Neutrality cracks. Few senators refuse to bow to Napoleon. And only one of them is willing to do anything to preserve the Most Serene Republic of Venice.