Penniless, after the completion of the costly Russo-Turkish War, Ioannis Varvakis, the Greek merchant and shipowner from the island of Psara, and former corsair in the Mediterranean Sea, finds refuge in Saint Petersburg. As the powerful Empress of Russia, Catherine II, grants him access to the vast and rich Caspian Sea to fish for sturgeon, the ingenious businessman starts a new business venture, trading the finest black caviar. On December 21, 1824--already three long years into the devastating War of Independence from the tyrannical Ottoman Empire--the great Greek benefactor, smitten by a virulent disease, arrives in the island of Zakynthos under British rule, as a forced civil conflict is tearing the land apart. A few weeks later, the noble patriot, Ioannis Varvakis, passed away.