The young Portuguese Jesuit priest Cristóvão Ferreira witnesses the mortal torture of five missionaries. The priest is helpless in the presence of Japanese authorities conducting the torture to try to assist his colleagues in any way. A few years later, at St. Paul's College, Macau, an Italian Jesuit priest, Alessandro Valignano, receives news that Ferreira renounced his faith in Japan after being tortured. In disbelief, Ferreira's Portuguese pupils, Jesuit priests Sebastião Rodrigues and Francisco Garupe, set off to find him. Kichijiro, an alcoholic fisherman who fled Japan to save himself, agrees to guide them.