After returning from his second voyage, Columbus finds his reputation damaged, his colony in chaos, and growing resistance from both colonists and native people. He tries to hold things together, but the settlers are frustrated with the lack of gold, and the natives are sick of mistreatment and broken promises. As rebellion brews, Columbus uses harsh measures to control the island and ship Indigenous people back to Spain, claiming it’s for their “conversion” but also to profit the Crown.

On his third voyage, Columbus discovers Trinidad and parts of mainland South America, but he’s in poor health and still obsessed with finding a route to Asia and defending his right to rule the Indies. Meanwhile, Spain starts to doubt him, hearing constant complaints from colonists. A royal commissioner, Bobadilla, is sent to investigate, and he arrives in Hispaniola just as Columbus is away trying to settle disputes. Bobadilla arrests Columbus and sends him back to Spain in chains.

Columbus, humiliated but still has a sense of divine calling, says God justified him, even if the world did not. The Spanish crown eventually frees him, but his power is finished.