The murders of his beloved sisters, Eleanora and Leonora, outside the brothels in Évora, Portugal, caused Dr. Heitor Nunes to seek bloody revenge upon the Portuguese government of King João III, fervent supporters of the Catholic Church's Inquisition and auto-da-fes begun in Lisbon in 1536. His lust for blood was tempered by his love for Leonor, youngest daughter of Dr. Enrique Pessoa, doctor and head of the Safe House network in Lisbon that sent Jews to Barbary and religious freedom in 1545. Amidst the burnings of secret Jews, Protestants and foreigners at auto-da-fes led by the murderous Inquisition seeking to purify the land, their love endured and grew with a burning intensity that even death could not diminish.