Balaban, a soldier in the Janissary army, which consisted of European slaves who had converted to Islam, serves as an Ottoman intelligence officer. The Ottoman army loses the Battle of Vienna in 1683, and he is taken prisoner. After he escapes, he is found wounded and rescued by the people of Moena, a small town in northern Italy. He settles there and organizes a peasant uprising against the feudal overlords who oppressed and overtaxed the people. Knowing his Ottoman origins, they nicknamed him El Turco.