In every man there lies a woman who can be awakened. The prohibited book De Serpentis Munere. Alchemical formulae able to change male DNA in female. Mysterious radioactive water. A biologist and a Vatican priest in search of the truth.

After the wild lifestyle of a famous young German photographer almost gets him killed, he goes to Palermo, Sicily to take a break. Can the beautiful city and a beautiful local woman calm him down?

Laura, a young noblewoman who grew up in a convent, is given in marriage to the baron of Carini, an overbearing and lustful man. The life of the young baroness seems destined for unhappiness until she meets Luca Corbara, who arrives in the country to find his origins.

One day in Palermo and in the life of young boy Toto who is madly in love with the beautiful teenager Lina.

Isabel and Clara are growing up in a time of terror. It is 1492, and Spain has decreed that all Jews must either convert to Catholicism, go into exile or face trial and execution. Although forcibly baptized, the sisters are chased through Christendom until they arrive in Venice. It is in this great maritime empire, where opulence rhymes with tolerance, that Isabel organizes secret passages for refugees fleeing the Inquisition while Clara falls in love with a Venetian noble, Paolo Zane. Isabel intends for her family to go to Istanbul, the only place where Jews can live freely, but Clara is reluctant to leave. She challenges Isabel's authority and is prepared to break her family ties and sacrifice her faith for love. Caught in this battle of wills is Clara's daughter, Victoria, who finds she is about to be married into the same faith that murdered her father.