In the first part, Emil Groman arrives in Serifos, having undertaken the exploitation of the island’s mines, which have operated periodically since antiquity. In the years that follow, often with the cooperation and encouragement of Drakoulis, he becomes the tyrant of the island, as the miners depend solely on their daily wages and accept to work for degrading pay and under inhumane conditions. When Emil Groman dies, the business is taken over by his son Georg, who is an even more ruthless entrepreneur. As the work and profits increase, the workers are treated more unfairly, their working hours multiply, and their wages are reduced at every opportunity. Most serious of all, however, is that Groman, in order to minimize operating costs, also reduces safety measures inside the tunnels. As a result, accidents occur frequently, usually fatal.
Drakoulis, Groman’s “right hand,” has married a girl from Serifos, who dies two days after giving birth. A short time later, he leases out the family fields he received as a dowry, which leads other landowners to be persuaded to do the same. One by one, they begin to lease out their own fields in exchange, ultimately, for a job. The humiliating promised dividends, however, are never given to the rightful recipients. Fate has it that a romance is born between the worker Perseas Konomos, the son of Katerineta, the Groman family’s maid, and Andromeda, the daughter of Drakoulis Andreakos. Drakoulis, of course, has great ambitions for his daughter and tries to marry her to Georg, despite the large age difference.
