In 1902 Gennaro Cataldo, an Italian anarchist, has travelled incognito to Brussels from London and Paris where he plans to assassinate Leopold II, King of the Belgians. From the roof of a building in downtown Brussels, Cataldo fires at King Leopold's carriage. Unable to determine whether his shots were true, Cataldo escapes and hides in Brittany. But with the Belgian secret service hot on his heels he makes the mistake of his life when he escapes to South America and ultimately for Kourou, French Guiana, the overseas capital of the French colonial penal system and infamous Devil's Island.