Marco the Magnificent

In 1271, the young Italian Marco Polo sets off on his adventurous expedition to China. Once there, Marco is deeply impressed by Kublai Khan's cosmopolitanism and the insights of Chinese scholars. He has no idea that this is also where the greatest danger lurks for him and his companions. As the son of wealthy Venetian merchants, Marco Polo leads a carefree, dissolute life, much to the displeasure of his wise private tutor Ackerman. But then Marco's father Nicolo is driven into business ruin - and the family is left with nothing. In this situation, news arrives that Pope Gregory X has chosen the young Marco to lead an expedition to China. There, he is to introduce the powerful Emperor Kublai Khan and his followers to Western culture and philosophy. For Marco, who is as inexperienced as he is hungry for life, this mission becomes an adventurous test of maturity. Accompanied by his father, his uncle, and two Knights Templar, he embarks on an arduous and perilous journey halfway around the world. The men cross the Holy Land, Syria, and the Gobi Desert. Again and again, they find themselves in life-threatening situations, are attacked, kidnapped, and separated from each other - and not all of them will reach their destination alive. Marco also narrowly escapes death several times. He encounters cruel hermits and murderous bandits, but also seductive women - above all Princess Gogatine, who also wants to reach the court of Kublai Khan. Marco falls in love with the beautiful woman, even though he knows that she is to marry the Mongol ruler. Khan's renegade son, Prince Nayam, fears Western influence and does everything in his power to drive a wedge of war between the Chinese people and the people of the West. To achieve this goal, he would even use force to depose his own father from the throne.