It is 1601 in the old city of Prague and the Hapsburg emperor Rudolph II, in possession of every luxury known to man, is unhappy. All that will ease him is the secret of eternal life, and as he sends his courtiers to England to bring back the alchemists John Dee and Edward Kelley, he unleashes a storm among his foes - and a sea of troubles for the inhabitants of the Jewish ghetto, where stories of the mysterious golem abound and young Rochel, an outsider among outsiders, is striving to find love beyond the marriage that has been arranged for her.