In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1519, a jester named Juanillo joins an expedition for the Spice Islands and circles the entire world - "the greatest undertaking ever known to man." Huge sails unfurl in the breeze, church bells fill the air, and five black ships - the Trinidad, the San Antonio, the Concepcion, the Santiago, and the Victoria - embark, their crews infected with dreams: dreams of gold, adventure, the unknown, and of cloves, pepper, saffron, cinnamon, to make them rich and bring them titles and honors.