Summary Ermoupolis, the island of Syros, 1895. A poor fisherman, carried away by the exhortations of an MP and fellow-townsman, sells off everything he has and buys industrial stocks. Then, with his wife and seven children, he moves to Athens in search of better luck. However, things get only worse, as the value of his stocks goes up in smoke, and he is forced to turn to the same MP for a job as grave digger in the neighborhood cemetery.