The story of Julius Popper, the man who in 1860 took possession of Tierra del Fuego on South America's southern tip, and how 40 years later he ended up a broken man who, along with the other adventures who came searching for wealth from throughout the world, destroyed the lives of the local people, as well as their own.
In the last moments of the nineteenth century, Julius Popper (Jorge Perugorría), once a Romanian engineer, who in 1860 took possession of Tierra del Fuego on behalf of Queen Carmen Sybla, stands in front of the Cathedral of Santiago, recounting the details of his life and how he ended up to be a poor man, elderly and ruined.
Julius Popper, like the other characters in his story, came to Tierra del Fuego in search of gold and the life that riches bring.
Instead, the desire for wealth and power and their inability to control their passions lead them in another direction, all played out against the background of the unspoiled region of Tierra del Fuego and at the cost of the lives of the island's native inhabitants.
Freely adapted from a story by Francisco Coloane and from the travel diary of Julius Popper 1870