Director Elia Kazan vividly recounts the dramatic life story of his own uncle, who's encouraged by his father to leave their home village in Turkey when oppression of the Greek minority living there becomes more intense. Young Stavros (Stathis Giallelis) travels first to Constantinople, where his family plans eventually to join him. But soon Stavros begins to set his sights on a bolder destination: the distant shores of America.