Taken prisoner by the Taíno on Hispaniola, Columbus spends his final days speaking Spanish with the princess Higuénamota, who acquires the language easily.
Sailing on the repaired Spanish vessels, the Incas and Higuénamota reach Lisbon on the day it is hit by a catastrophic earthquake, then travel towards Spain.
Atahualpa goes on to ambush, imprison, and kill Charles V, and arrange the murder of the prince Philip; he is subsequently crowned king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily.
He allies himself with various European and North African kingdoms, repeals the Alhambra Decree, and replaces it with the Seville Edict, granting all citizens freedom of religion as long as they observe the feasts of Viracocha.
The Incas prevent Charles' brother Ferdinand from being elected Holy Roman Emperor by exploiting his unpopularity among Protestants and encouraging him to go to war against Selim II.
Amid unrest in Italy among the Christian city states which have resisted the Inca religion, Atahualpa is killed in Florence by Lorenzo, a former ally.
El Greco and Cervantes are eventually apprehended by Franco-Mexican guards and shipped to Cuba, where the Mexican and Inca empires in the West are looking for painters and writers.
Binet was first inspired to write the book after a trip to Peru, where he learned that the last Inca emperor Atahualpa was captured by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro with a force of fewer than 200 soldiers.