Spain held vast territories in its Mexican colony, areas which are now part of the American soutwest. For a long time, huge portions of these territories went unexplored. In this historical drama set in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Padre Kino (1645-1711), a Jesuit missionary, defies his superiors and explores the northern reaches of Baja California. In his journeys, he discovers (to everyone's surprise) that it is a penninsula connected to the rest of California. Padre Kino (Francisco Eusebio Kino) established many towns and villages along the way, and is an important figure in Mexico's colonial history.