In 18th Century Portugal, Antonio da Silva, a talented and popular writer, is accused of heresy -- of still, secretly, being a Jew. Da Silva is a "converso," a hidden Jew who had converted to Catholicism. But when the forces of the Inquisition give him a choice -- admit to being a Jew or death by slow torture -- da Silva must stand up to a ferocious church hierarchy at odds with a decadent monarchy.

"A society gripped by a fiendish passion... filmed in the rich, shadowy palette of Caravaggio paintings." - New York Times