Amsterdam Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts, eine Stadt voller religiöser und kultureller Spannungen. Mit der Einführung des Kaffees löst ein charmanter und cleverer jüdischer Kaufmann eine kleine Revolution aus und setzt eine Kette von unerwarteten Ereignissen in Gang.
Amsterdam in the 1690s - a boom town with Europe's biggest stock exchange and traders who will stop at nothing to get even richer.
Lienzo, a Portugese Jew, stumbles across a new commodity - coffee - which, if he plays his cards right, will make him the richest man in Holland. But others stand in his way - rival traders who do all in their power to confuse the exchange and scupper his plans, his brother who is jealous of his financial wizardry and even his brother's beautiful wife who both tempts and spurns him in equal measure.
